Daughters of the Sky
by Lalaith Quetzalli
Summary: -AU to Nightingale.- How easily lives change: from husband to widower, from daughter to orphan, from villain to hero. In the end there are only 2 constants in life: the world is what it is, and we are who are, everything else is subject to change, destiny itself malleable, especially for them: the protectors of kings, daughters of the sky… (Can be Read as a Stand Alone)
1. Sonata

I don't own the MCU, Smallville, DC.. do I really need to say this? It should be obvious by now.

Here we are, for the first part of the next AU! Hope you'll enjoy it. This is the first story where I actually do something with Sebastian Salani, beyond that goodbye in the original Nightingale. Seems only right that I'm posting it on what for me (in Mexico) is Father's Day, though I didn't actually plan it.

Dreamcast: John Barrowman as Sebastian Salani, Kristin Scott-Thomas as Kathryn Adler(Salani), Emily Browning as Silbhé Salani/Nightingale, Taraneh Alidoosti as Kendra Hall, Emayatzy Corinealdi as Shuri (because my Shuri is older than canon).

Also, on the topic of Black Panther characters. Please remember that, much as I might have loved that movie, it's not canon for the Nightingale-verse. I took what we knew of Black Panther and Wakanda at the time of Civil War (and things from the comics I found online) and built my own verse from there.

If you can, listen to Moonlight Sonata. It was my inspiration for parts of this fic, especially in this chapter. It's also explained in the story itself.

This fic is written entirely in Third Person, just so you know.

Enjoy and see ya in two weeks!

* * *

Daughters of the Sky

(Alternative Universe to _Nightingale_ )

 _By: Lalaith Quetzalli_

 _How easily lives change: from husband to widower, from daughter to orphan, from villain to hero. In the end there are only 2 constants in life: the world is what it is, and we are who are, everything else is subject to change, destiny itself malleable, especially for them: the protectors of kings, daughters of the sky…_

 **Sonata**

Some melodies don't need words to tell a story, others are just too big for them.

Sebastian Salani wasn't a complicated man, not at all. He'd been born in Wales, the second child (first son) of British parents who were never around, working the kind of jobs they could never talk about; as a child he'd joked about his parents being spies, later on he'd simply decided they preferred their jobs over their family… he'd no idea how right his former thought was. His older sister Kathryn did her best to look after him, especially after their parents fell sick and died one shortly after the other. Sebastian didn't remember crying at their funeral, by that point they'd become a non-entity to him. The only family he truly knew was his older sister… and then she left him too. Right after turning eighteen, it made Sebastian believe that love did not exist; because if the very people that were supposed to be in the world to love, to be right by you, your parents and siblings, didn't, what hope was there for anything else?

Sebastian met Aislinn Kinross in high-school. She was the one who made him change his mind about love. Because she loved him, and he loved her. She was an artist, a concert pianist, so very talented, and she loved him, even though he was just a boring nerd, with no talent for music whatsoever, he wanted to be an architect. She loved him, made him believe that love was real, and he loved her with all his heart.

The two went to college, and despite studying very different things, spending most of their time apart, their love did not disappear; in fact, it grew. Grew so much the two of them finally got married in 1990. A private ceremony. Sebastian had been so happy he even sent an invitation to Kathryn, despite the fact that he'd hardly seen her at all in a decade. She didn't show up. By the time Aislinn gave birth to their baby girl two years later Sebastian knew better than to try and get in touch with her.

Sebastian was so happy… he had a dream job, working for a great company in London, married to the love of his life and with a beautiful baby girl: Silbhé Arianna. He and Aislinn had even begun talking about giving Silbhé a sibling, the girl was about to turn two, and Aislinn didn't want them to be too distant in age, so they might be close growing up. They tried for a few months to have a child, even thought they'd managed it, until the terrible involuntary miscarriage Aislinn suffered. She was in the hospital for two days and afterwards… they never expected the doctor to give them the news he did: cancer. Aislinn had leukemia, and it was very advanced.

They hadn't the slightest idea how they'd failed to notice it until then. It seemed Aislinn had been completely asymptomatic. Until they began trying for a second baby, her body, weakened by the disease, couldn't deal with a pregnancy, that was what caused the miscarriage. After hearing those words Sebastian no longer cared about a baby, all he wanted was to keep his wife…

It wasn't to be. Aislinn Kinross-Salani passed away in early 1995, just days after her daughter's third birthday. Sebastian was never the same man again. He tried his best to hold on, to move on, not for himself but for Silbhé, the little piece of him and his love, she was a defenseless little girl, she needed him. One thing Sebastian was eventually forced to admit was that he just couldn't keep on living in the home he'd shared with his wife. So he packed his bags, took Silbhé, and moved them all the way to the other side of the Atlantic. To another family home they had, in Westbrook, Maine.

There… things weren't perfect, but Sebastian found a way to endure. He loved Silbhé with all his heart. At times he couldn't help but see his wife in her, but instead of causing him pain, that made him smile, because Aislinn deserved to have something of her live on. It was also why he made a point of instilling the love for music in her. Even if he'd never been much for such things, Silbhé deserved to have a part of her mother with her, and Aislinn had always loved music best.

In 1998 the two of them were on their way home from an Orchestra concert in Portland. Silbhé was half-asleep in the back of the car, quietly humming the final song of the concert, Moonlight Sonata. She loved that song, which was not exactly surprising, considering Sebastian had taken to playing a record of Aislinn playing that very song, for her every night; it was the last song she played professionally, before putting her career on stand-by to have Silbhé and spend her first years at home with her. The plan had been for her to go back to the Orchestra once Silbhé (and perhaps a sibling) reached schooling age. But that never had a chance to be…

Silbhé had asked him for a chocolate-milk when they were leaving the Concert Hall, and while Sebastian wasn't one to indulge her at so late an hour (they'd gone to dinner before the concert began), he abruptly decided to give in, this once. So he stopped at one of those 24/7 places halfway through the road to Westbrook. Silbhé smiled brightly at him as she took the treat (or at least as brightly as she could, sleepy as she was). And then they were on the road again. Five minutes later Sebastian was forced to swerve just a bit to avoid what looked like a tire.

There had been an accident, a terrible accident by the looks of it. A part of Sebastian wanted to stop the car, to go find out what had happened, if anyone needed help… but the six-year-old girl in the back of his car stopped him. He had no idea what happened, but stopping in the middle of the highway, so late at night, would mean potentially putting his child in danger, he couldn't do that, not to Aislinn's girl. So he kept driving. He'd call 911 as soon as he got home…

What he certainly wasn't expecting was who was waiting for him there… his sister, Kathryn. For a moment he didn't recognize her, wouldn't have, hadn't it been for her green eyes. Her usually brunette hair (so much like his own) was dyed a dark, almost golden blonde, and she was wearing clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place in some high-end cocktail party.

"Kathryn?" He asked, confused over what was going on exactly.

"Oh Bastian!" Kathryn cried out, throwing her arms around him effusively. "You're alright!"

It took a bit of doing, to let her embrace him while still holding the sleeping six-year-old in his arms, but Sebastian managed. He noticed his sister had used his old childhood nickname, and the embrace… she hadn't done either since the last time she tried to explain to him why she couldn't be home for Christmas… he'd been tired of excuses by then, didn't give her a chance. And to suddenly find her there… she hadn't even been there for him when Aislinn died!

"What the hell Kathy!" His own use of a nickname was completely subconscious.

Truth was that, no matter how many years passed, how many things were wrong, Kathryn was and would always be family, his older sister… the one who'd once been his whole world… bad as things might get, he'd never forget that.

Then he remembered the accident on the highway.

"I need to call 911!" He announced, hurrying to the phone.

Kathryn slammed it down before he could even begin dialing.

"What the hell?!" He repeated. "Kathryn, there's no time. There's been an accident on a highway. Someone might be dead and…"

"Someone is most definitely dead." She announced, more coldly than he ever expected. "And it could have been you."

"What?" He so wasn't expecting that.

"It wasn't an accident Sebastian." She told him, so very quietly. "They were after you."

"Who is 'they'? And why would they be after me?"

"I'm not completely sure who 'they' are, only that they're crazy and powerful enough to have the most proficient assassin in the world at their service. A man who, until tonight, many of us were sure was nothing more than a myth. As for why… I'm afraid it's kind of my fault. Have you never wondered what it is I do little brother? What mum and dad did?"

Sebastian would have snapped something about her job, he'd asked that very question time and again, never getting an actual answer; the mention of their parents though, pulled the wind out of his sails abruptly.

"Well, it's not exactly the same." Kathryn went on. "We don't work for the same organization, but the core of it is the same. We work for the government."

"What? You here to tell me you're a spy, that mum and dad were spies?" He almost scoffed. "Some CIA Agent shit…?"

"Wrong country." She deadpanned. "Mum and dad were MI5. So was I, at first, nowadays I'm with SHIELD. Have been since it was founded in '85."

"Why tell me? Why now?"

"Because they're trying to kill you! I've been investigating several events that do not match up. In China, South America, and here. Agents have died in suspicious circumstances… I fear I might have gotten too close to the answer. Got a couple of warnings, threats. I ignored them of course, it's not like its the first time… and then I got a picture of you, you and Silbhé, leaving the house earlier tonight. I knew then they'd be coming after you next. Got on the first plane out and came here. Hoping that I might find you in time… when I heard through the radio about the accident on the highway… I thought I was too late."

A part of Sebastian's mind was lost on the insanity that his sister's life seemed to be. Researching odd happenings, receiving threats on her life, and they were nothing to her! Until they (whoever the hell 'they' might be) chose to threaten him and his daughter instead. Then he caught up to what she'd said about the accident…

"You think that was them?" He asked, shocked. "That they… what? Got the wrong person…?"

"Is it possible?" She asked in turn.

He was about to point out that she was the one who was supposed to know those things, and that it all was absolutely crazy, until he abruptly turned to look at the little girl in his arms, the edge of her lip had the slightest dark stain, from chocolate milk…

"Oh my god…" He was forced to sit down abruptly on the closest sofa, only half aware when Kathryn took the girl from his arms and laid her down beside him. "Silbhé… she wanted a chocolate milk so I… I stopped in one of those 24/7 stores by the side of the highway; it was only a few miles ahead that I saw the accident. I… you think… you really think…"

Kathryn didn't answer, but she didn't really need to. They were both thinking it: someone had been checking on him, confirmed that he was on the highway, but no one expected him to stop in the way. So when the assassin acted… he got the wrong car. Someone, an innocent person was dead, and miraculously Sebastian and his daughter were not. And it's not like they were out of danger, once they found out the Salanis were alive…

"What am I supposed to do now?" He asked with a tired sigh. "They won't just give up on us, will they? I mean, it cannot be that simple..."

He didn't even suggest going to the police, he wasn't as foolish as to believe that would help at all. He might not be involved in what appeared to be the 'family business' but he understood enough of how the world worked. No, calling the police would be pointless.

"You're going to pack one suitcase for yourself, with everything you cannot do without, then you're going to the same for Silbhé." Kathryn explained to him, slowly and concisely. "Then I'm going to drive the two of you to Boston, where we'll take the first train I can find across the border and into Canada."

"And after that?" Sebastian asked, wondering just what his sister's life was like that she was capable of planning something like that.

"It depends on what I find about the situation from now to when we get to Canada." She answered honestly. "Now, we need to get moving. It's impossible to know right now whether they're unaware that the hit failed. If they are, that means we have time, from a few hours to… well, it depends on whether the car burned, how many people were on the other vehicle…" She broke off, seeing how pale her brother was getting. "If they are aware though, that means they might come after us sooner. So we need to get moving."

Sebastian nodded, standing and giving a few steps automatically before stopping, turning to look at his sleeping daughter over his shoulder.

"I'll stay with her." Kathryn promised.

Sebastian just nodded, and left the living room.

 **xXx**

They made it to Boston just in time to catch the late train to Montreal. Unknown to Sebastian, Kathryn had already arranged for someone to 'steal' her brother's car, chop it and sell the parts. She believed that if the mistake hadn't been discovered yet, it'd be easier if the car couldn't be found, or them. They arrived early enough to Montreal, where Kathryn took advantage of the fact that it wasn't even seven to rent a car without really giving any names (the man was practically falling asleep, he didn't even notice; and she was sure he'd be covering his own ass as soon as he realized). Sebastian insisted on driving, if mostly to distract himself; they made it to Toronto sometime after noon.

Silbhé had no idea what was going on. Sebastian had introduced Kathryn to her, before telling her they were on vacation. It'd worked, especially when Silbhé got distracted with the view of Lake Ontario. But it wouldn't last forever. Especially because it had become clear in the past few hours that there was no going back home, not for either of them.

Kathryn stayed with them for two weeks, before finally revealing to Sebastian what the next part of the plan was. She was going back to her job. Because she needed to. It seemed that thus far no one knew that the Salanis hadn't been the ones in that car. And she'd managed to cover their tracks enough that unless someone had reason to suspect, they wouldn't find them. She had to go back and keep the fiction. Sebastian would wait a further two weeks, then he and Silbhé were going back to the States, to Kansas.

"What the hell?!" Sebastian cried out, a part of him pondering on hos often he'd been saying that since the whole mess had begun…

"If they ever do realize that you didn't die, they will dig, and they will find the train tickets to Montreal. They will believe that you either stayed in Canada, or chose to leave the continent entirely. No one will expect you to have returned to the States." Kathryn did her best to pacify him. "Also, I have contacts in the US that I don't have anywhere else."

"Why Kansas?" Sebastian insisted.

"That's where my contact is." Kathryn nodded. "Metropolis Kansas. There is a man called Carter Hall. I will give you his address, tell him that Eileen Grayson sent you, and that I'm calling in the blood-debt he owes me."

"Blood debt?!" Sebastian hit his limit then. "Just what the hell are you involved with Kathryn?!"

"It's what he calls it, though it's not quite as dramatic as it sounds." Or maybe it was, Kathryn didn't have the time to explain the whole story. "I need to go now." She pulled out an envelope. "These aren't the best, but they'll do for the time being."

They were papers, fake ones: birth certificates and passports for both him and Silbhé, as well as a driver license for him. They were Arianna and Allen Grayson, their middle-names, and some name Kathryn appeared to have used before… Sebastian hated his middle-name with a passion. Though he understood it was the best way to make sure no one would suspect them being back in the country. He had no idea how he was supposed to trust a man he'd never met, not just with his life but the life of his only child! And yet… Kathryn had done everything in her power to help them, and she was the one telling him to go to this Carter Hall… so he would.

Whatever Sebastian might have been expecting from his sister's contact, he certainly didn't expect the dark-haired man with deep-blue eyes in a dark-red shirt, washed-out jeans, work boots and a tanned-leather jacket; with a three-year-old, dark-haired, dark-eyed girl in a green tunic-like dress on his hip.

"So you're Carter Hall..." Sebastian honestly had no idea what else to say.

"And you're Eileen's brother." Carter replied, then, upon seeing Silbhé, added: "and niece."

"I am Sebastian, this is Silbhé." The older man introduced the two of them. "Kathryn didn't tell me you had a child as well. And mind telling me what this whole 'blood-debt' thing is?"

Carter snorted as he waved for Sebastian to follow him inside the townhouse.

"Eileen and I met in '95." Carter explained quietly. "I don't even know what she was doing in Metropolis, exactly. When she found me and my wife… we'd been in a terrible accident. My wife was seven months pregnant, and very badly hurt; we knew the ambulance wouldn't make it on time. And then Eileen was there. She was completely honest with us, there was no way to save Shayera, she was bleeding out, and nothing any of us did was going to change that. But she could save the baby, and she did. Eileen even managed to get Shayera to survive long enough to hold her, name her. So you see, I owe your sister my daughter's life. That is no minor debt."

"And you will pay it by helping us?"

"It's the right thing to do."

"What if helping us puts you and your little girl in danger?"

"We're already in danger. That won't change. And I'm not defenseless. I will help you."

Sebastian knew he was missing something, something important; but he and Carter didn't know each other, he could hardly demand explanations. The man was already risking a lot by helping him. So he decided to let it be.

A month later Bastian Hall, Carter's younger brother officially arrived from Egypt, along with his young daughter: Silbhé Hall. At least, that was the official story. The two men looked enough alike to pass as brothers. Silbhé and Kendra got along immediately, and Bastian couldn't help but be reminded of the sibling he and Aislinn had once wanted to give Silbhé. And really, while his daughter was her mother all over, with her auburn hair and hazel eyes; Kendra's dark hair… well, there was a reason he and Carter passed as brothers. Though the girl's eyes weren't blue but a brown that looked at times very dark, and others very light (like the desert sands, Carter claimed, and it was obvious to Sebastian that that meant something important).

It wasn't easy, starting life over, but they managed. Silbhé was thankfully young enough, had just been starting school, that she didn't mind. It also took no time for others to notice how bright she was, they got her into a special program for gifted, with which she advanced her studies much after, she also got the chance to learn more languages (she already knew English, Irish and was beginning to learn French).

Bastian had no idea how long it would last. What if someone one day realized that Carter Hall didn't really have any brothers? What if someone from his past happened to travel to Metropolis and recognize him? At times he also stopped to think about his sister, wondering if she was safe. She warned him they couldn't communicate, it'd be too dangerous; he had to make a clean break from his old life to keep himself and Silbhé safe. It should have been easy, after more than a decade not seeing his sister, eighteen years since she'd stopped being a direct part of his life; and yet, she'd dropped whatever it was she'd been doing and went looking for him, trying to protect him and his daughter. In the end, no matter how much time might pass, how many things might happen, Kathryn was still his sister, she'd always be.

 **xXx**

Bastian always knew that Carter wasn't what most would call exactly normal. Same with those friends of his that would drop by once a week or so. And it wasn't even how they were all so inordinately attached to the stuff Carter kept in the museum (which hardly had any visitors and yet Carter still kept it going for some reason). It was the way Carter knew so much about the most obscure topics, the way he talked about certain topics (like authority, the government…) sometimes even in the very way he moved…

Then, when Silbhé was eleven and Kendra eight, things got interesting.

It began in the middle of the night, in the Summer, Bastian woke up, seemingly for no reason at all, except he couldn't help the feeling that something was off. Then he heard the crash. He was on his feet and rushing out of his bedroom and down the stairs before he was fully aware he was doing it. Once down he found a broken flowerpot and cursed inside, Silbhé had been working so hard with those desert roses (a gift from one of Carter's friends), waiting until they were ready to be transplanted into the garden she'd been carefully building over the last three years in the backyard. It wasn't very big, but still beautiful.

His attention was distracted from the desert rose when he heard noises, whoever had broken that pot was still the backyard. The noises turned out to be groans, and moans, there was a young man in the backyard, groaning and twisting on the grass. Bastian was about to call out to the guy who was probably having a bad trip, when he noticed something else, something that almost made his heart stop: Silbhé… She was there, in her off-white nightgown and white and lavender robe, feet bare, standing on the edge of the garden, closer to the moaning guy than Bastian himself. In her hands was a traversal flute and, even as Bastian stood there, trying to think of how to get his daughter without the drugged-out guy hurting either of them, Silbhé pulled the flute to her lips and began playing.

Bastian froze. It didn't seem to be any specific melody, or at least not one he knew and yet… he could have sworn he felt something. As if every note carried some kind of feeling, of power… it was absolutely ridiculous and yet. He also couldn't miss the way the guy on the grass stopped groaning; he gasped for several seconds and then he stopped that too. Turning towards Silbhé. Bastian was still so lost in the melody (he hadn't gotten so absolutely lost in music since Aislinn last played the piano for him, during their last anniversary, before the bloody miscarriage, before everything went so utterly wrong).

The young man turned onto his front then, before pushing himself to his knees. He tore at the shirt he was wearing, and Bastian could have sworn he saw some kind of mark, almost like a burn, vanish rapidly from his skin. And it seemed like the youn… no, not a man, a boy, on second glance Bastian was quite sure he couldn't even be out of his teens yet!

"Ho… how did you do that?" He asked, looking straight at Bastian's own daughter, who was reaching what seemed to be the end of the melody just then.

"You needed help, and if I could give it, why shouldn't I?" Silbhé replied in a tone of voice that sounded so young and innocent, and at the same time carried an odd, ageless serenity.

It was clear the young man had no answer to that.

"Thank you." He said eventually.

"It's my pleasure." She answered, still in the same tone and doing a small curtsy.

"I… I think I should go." He murmured, awkward.

"You should." Silbhé nodded. "Your family misses you."

"I don't know…" There was something in him in that moment, in that hesitation, Bastian just couldn't hold himself back anymore.

"They do." He called.

The young man spun around, so fast Bastian couldn't really see him move. He did notice that it looked like the boy would flee at any moment.

"I don't know you." He went on, in his most understanding voice. "I have no idea what you're even doing here, in the middle of the night. Why you looked like you were having a bad trip… but it is clear to me that you're not alright, you need help, you need support, you need your family. And that's alright, we all do."

"With all due respect sir, but you don't know me, the things I've done…" The guy shook his head, mostly to himself. "I very much doubt they want to see me."

Bastian did not know him, yet suddenly he could see the self-loathing hiding in the back of the boy's eyes; and even without knowing him, Bastian hurt for him.

"It's true I may not know you, or your parents." He nodded, speaking as softly as he knew how. "But no matter what they might do, the ways they might hurt us, a parent never does stop loving their child. It's simply not possible."

"I… I..." He just had no words with which to reply to that.

"Go." Silbhé told him, softly but full of unexpected authority. "They love you, they always have, and they always will. Go!"

"I… thank you…" He whispered, bowing his head in Silbhé's direction.

A second later, he was gone. Just like that, in an instant, as if he'd never been there. Bastian could only blink. He began wondering how that was possible, then decided he'd rather not know. In the years he'd been living in Metropolis he'd come to understand that some people were… different, in ways he couldn't always properly explain. Some were crazy and did awful things with what made them different; but most… most were just trying to get by, to live, some might even be trying to help. So he'd never hold it against anyone, being different.

Bastian turned towards Silbhé right then, was about to comment on the fact that she'd left her bedroom, had been standing in the garden, in the middle of the night, talking to a complete stranger, one who'd seemed to be up to his ears in hard drugs… when he noticed her swaying. She seemed to be falling asleep standing!

"Silbhé!" He cried out, rushing to her side.

"Papa…" She whispered, voice breaking at the end with a yawn. "I'm sleepy."

"Go to sleep sweetheart, I'm here." He whispered.

And she did, leaving him to carry her (and her flute) back inside the house.

Bastian wasn't sure how surprised he was to find Carter awake, standing just inside the house, by the backdoor; probably not at all. What did surprise him was the way he was looking at Silbhé, as if he'd never seen her before…

"Rossi…" He breathed out, extending a hand, yet not quite touching. "I can hardly believe it..."

"Carter?" Bastian asked, not quite sure if he actually wanted to ask what was going on now.

There had been enough shocks for one night, hadn't there? Then again, this concerned her daughter, so maybe he did want to know (needed to know).

"Why are you calling her Rossi?" He finally asked.

"It's short for Rossignol." He clarified.

"Rossig… Nightingale?" Bastian inquired, not getting it. "What does that have to do with anything? Is it for the music?"

"There's that… there's a lot more." That didn't explain anything at all.

"Carter! What the hell is going on?"

Silbhé was so deeply asleep that nothing woke her, not the trek up the stairs and all the way to her bedroom, or even her father's whispered shouts, woke her.

"It's… complicated." Carter ran a hand through his hair, staring at Silbhé for several very long seconds, than towards her father. "Tell me Bastian, do you believe in reincarnation?"

"Rein…?" That question took the older father so completely by surprise he hadn't the slightest idea how to answer. "You mean like, I die, get reborn, that kind of thing?"

"It's that, it can also be a lot more." Carter said, very seriously. "The first life I remember I was Prince Khufu, a somewhat distant relative of Ramesses II."

"Ramesses… you're talking about the freaking Egyptian pharaoh!" Bastian was shocked.

"Yes. My beloved, Chay-Ara and I found the remains of… something, we never knew what it was." Carter admitted. "But we made use of it, to forge armor, and weapons and… wings."

Suddenly Bastian saw, very clearly, in his minds eye several of the pieces in the museum.

"We did our best to serve our Pharaoh, and to protect our people." Carter went on. "Until we came across an enemy we couldn't defeat. We were cursed, Chay-Ara and I, to repeat history. To find each other, life after life, fall in love, only for one of us to loose the other. It's a curse we've lived through for millennia."

"That's what you call a curse?" Bastian scoffed.

"You don't understand…" Relieved as Carter might be that Bastian wasn't calling him crazy over the whole reincarnation thing, he still felt offended by his reaction.

"Maybe I don't." Bastian shrugged a bit, turning briefly to look at his sleeping daughter. "Truth is, I've never been one to believe in anything. See, my parents were hardly ever home, they never exactly instilled a religion in me, neither did my sister. My wife… Aislinn did believe, in God, and heaven, and all… and I did my best to follow her lead but I just… never saw the point. Then I lost her… I lost her and I couldn't understand how the supposedly loving God she so worshiped could do something like that. Take such a beautiful person as her from this world, while leaving all those terrible, monstrous people that go around hurting others; like the ones who threatened my life, and the life of my daughter simply because my sister was doing her job!" He let out a breath. "I didn't know, didn't understand, didn't believe… and you tell me. You tell me you know, for a fact, that your wife, the love of your existence, is somewhere right now, waiting for you. That you will get the chance to meet her again, to love her again; and yeah, it might not last forever, but what does? You will get that chance, over and over again. You can, potentially, love her forever! And you see it as a curse?!"

Bastian shook his head. Insane as the mere idea of reincarnation should have been, the potential of seeing his beloved again, of them being together again, it was stronger than any shock, any possible disbelief. If he'd such a chance… he'd embrace it with both hands, no questions asked, which was why he didn't understand why Carter saw it as a curse, instead of the incredible blessing it all was!

"I… had never seen it like that." The other man admitted after what felt like forever.

Bastian shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm sure you will see your beloved again too, in this life or the next." The reincarnated prince added, almost as an afterthought.

"That'd be a dream come true." Bastian admitted, very quietly; for something like that, he was willing to believe in almost anything… "But I doubt very much you brought the whole thing up just for us to get emotional."

"Yeah, I…" Carter cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus. "You asked me why I called your daughter Rossi. I cannot believe I didn't see it earlier, it should have been obvious. It's the music, and her eyes, and… I've been so blind." He let out a brief bark of laughter. "I knew her before. Your daughter I mean. Not as Khufu. My name was Kontar in that life, my wife's Sharifa. We were still in Egypt, still distantly related to the royal line, which was already in decadence. She was going by Rossi back then, and her match was Serrure."

"Match? Is that like a… like a husband?!" Bastian cried out, unable to help himself.

"They explained it to us once." Carter elaborated. "Said it was like a consort, but more. Being a match, it meant they were bound, their union had been blessed by the stars. They were meant to be together, for all time, in life after life…"

"Like soulmates. Like you and Shayera..."

"I… Yeah, like me and Shayera."

For the longest time Bastian didn't know what to say to that. On the one hand, the prospect of his daughter (his eleven year old daughter!) belonging to someone other than him already, even if she didn't know it, and probably neither did whoever that Serrure might be nowadays, he wasn't sure he liked it. On the other hand, it meant that Silbhé would have someone who would love her, as absolutely and unconditionally as he knew Aislinn loved him, and he her; and she'd have the security that if the worst were to ever happen, if she were to ever lose him, like he lost her mom, that won't be the end, it never will be. So maybe it wasn't so bad; not yet of course, Silbhé was way too young to even contemplate marriage, much less something more, but one day in the future… he could live with that.

He didn't even need to tell Carter anything, the other man seemed to understand all too well.

 **xXx**

A few months later, about mid November, they got quite the unexpected visitor. It was already evening, dinner had passed and the girls were about finished with their respective homework (Kendra had joined Silbhé in the gifted program and both were advancing by leaps and bounds, far-ahead from where her age-mates were). Silbhé was about to play a piece on her flute, as had become her routine, when suddenly the flute fell from her hands, that called everyone's attention instantly. Silbhé did not care, she left the flute where it was and instead rushed to the backyard. Kendra and their fathers on her heels.

What they found in the backyard was the very same young man Silbhé had somehow helped that Summer night, months prior; except he was dressed in jeans, a blue shirt, red jacket and work boots; also, he was carefully holding a bald, pale young man in jeans and a white undershirt who looked completely out of it.

"I'm sorry," the young man apologized. "I didn't know where else to go. My friend needs help."

"Come." Silbhé said inmmediately, not even stopping to question the adults.

"That's Lex Luthor." Carter blurted out. "What the hell…?"

"Carter…" Bastian began.

"Come on Bastian!" Carter cried out. "You know what the Luthors are capable of."

Silbhé could tell the man in red and blue was completely tense, ready to run, with Lex still in his arms, if he had the slightest reason to believe he wouldn't be getting the help he needed. Bastian, while he didn't exactly like going against the man he felt he owed so much to (though Carter had told him to forget about any debt, and not just because of Eileen's own past actions, but the fact that if he'd known from the start it was 'Rossi' he'd have helped without a second thought).

"I know what Lionel Luthor is capable of." Bastian definitely knew.

He'd been fighting tooth and nail against the man, and his company to allow his current project for solar energy. The company he worked for was small, but the project Bastian was in would bring a lot of money, if he managed to get the patents before Lionel Luthor convinced everyone that they belonged to LuthorCorp (he knew someone there had been working on something similar, but they hadn't managed to make it work, not like Bastian and his own team had).

"I also know it's not right to judge a boy by the sins of his father." Bastian added quietly. "Also, do you want to be the one to tell our daughters they cannot help someone?"

Carter definitely had no reply to that. Though he could see that Kendra had finally convinced the gifted man (because to be able to run like that he had to be gifted) to lay Lex down on a sofa, where Silbhé approached him carefully.

"What's your name?" Kendra asked him, curious.

"Clark Kent." He answered honestly. "Thank you for your help."

"I'm Kendra Hall." She offered with a bright smile. "And I'm not the one with magic."

"Magic?" Clark inquired, confused.

"That thing Silbhé does when she plays, it's what I call it." She explained.

Clark nodded. He obviously didn't understand, but he didn't need to. He'd gone there because the girl had helped him once before, when he'd honestly believed no one possibly could have… and he wanted to believe she could help Lex too, somehow. Not the most logical train of thought, but it was all he had for the time being. Lex seemed to be going crazy, his own parents (Clark's) did not seem too willing to help, and the authorities were unlikely to believe them when Lionel had clearly taken care to cover his tracks. Clark still wasn't sure what it was he'd done, exactly, but it was bad, he needed to help his friend somehow… so he'd done the very thing he never imagined doing; he'd given himself away. But if that helped him save Lex, it would be worth it.

"He feels… wrong." Silbhé said after a long while, running a hand slowly down Lex's face. "I… I don't know how to describe it. Something's interfering with him…"

"Like he's drugged?" Her father suggested.

Carter had explained to him that Rossi was an empath and a healer, to a degree. Ever since learning that Silbhé had tried to call those gifts up. Thus far there was no healing (Carter thought she might be too young for it, or maybe it had something to do with Serrure; he remembered the story of how his old friend obtained more power after his marriage, like some kind of blessing for joining with his match), but the empathy… that one apparently had been there all along, they just hadn't known it. Silbhé was still learning to hone it. Then there was what Kendra called her magic, Carter and Bastian believed that playing music somehow allowed her to wield her own empathy better, more directly, even with more power; she could manipulate other's emotions, rather than just sense them. And it wasn't just emotions, like she'd just mentioned, she could sense when someone just wasn't right even if she didn't always know what was wrong exactly.

"Drugged?" Carter almost snorted.

"He's not a junkie!" Clark defended his friend instantly.

"Could someone have drugged him?" Bastian offered.

"Maybe..." Clark admitted, pondering. "Things just haven't been right since Lex came back from that freaking island. And something is really wrong. Yesterday… he told me someone had broken into the mansion, killed his head of security. But this morning when I dropped by he was just fine. No one seemed to know anything had happened."

"So he had a bad trip?" Carter scoffed.

"You mean like I thought he was having one that night Silbhé helped him?" Bastian reminded him calmly. "Carter… I know you have misgivings about this but give the boy a chance, please?"

"Fine." Carter relented.

He really had nothing against Lex Luthor personally. It was all his father, and he knew that Bastian was right the young man didn't deserve to be judged by his father's sins, but Carter had always known he could hold a grudge, it was just a flaw of his.

Silbhé said nothing, instead she took the flute when Kendra offered it to her, brought it to her lips and, without a thought, began playing. It was a different melody, more structured than what she'd played for Clark in the summer. It took almost a minute, but most of those present soon began thinking it sounded very much like a lullaby…

The first thing those present noticed was the way Lex relaxed into the sofa, no longer trembling and muttering under his breath. His brow smoothed out, his breathing evened out, like he was just having a nap. Clark was the first to notice, about the same time Lex fully relaxed, that something was off with Silbhé. She seemed to miss a couple of notes, and she was sweating, very much. She'd just about finished the song when the girl dropped the flute and ran, out the backdoor and straight onto the backyard, where she was violently sick in a corner.

Clark didn't even stop to think about it, he ran at his full speed, getting there just in time to hold her up, and then pull her back. The girl was shivering, her whole body trembling in his arms, and she was crying, softly but nonstop.

"Oh my god!" Clark was suddenly terrified that helping his friend might have hurt her. "Are you alright? Are…?"

"I'm…" She took a deep breath, controlling herself. "Not alright, but I will be. Can you take me back inside please?"

He did. All eyes turned to them instantly. Bastian guided Clark to place Silbhé on another sofa, while Kendra rushed to get a cool cloth to run it across her cousin's face.

"I just..." Silbhé took another deep breath, searching for the right words. "Someone really wanted to hurt your friend Clark. Really bad."

"What did you do?" Clark wanted to know. "Why did it hurt you?" Something else occurred to him. "Were you hurt when you helped me too?"

"Not like that." She shook her head. "I got some phantom pains for a minute or so, but it was like… what I do, empathy is not healing, not really. Emotions don't just vanish, they need to be processed, to be transformed. What I do… I switch, take something or yours and give something of mine. Back in the summer, I took your pain and your hurt, and your rage, they had nowhere to go in me, so they didn't really hurt me, as for the burn. It was connected to all those emotions, couldn't exist without them, that's why it disappeared. Your friend… what was wrong with him was translating into fear, so much fear, it went beyond terror. That is an emotion I understand, all too well. When I helped him, there was so much of it I just couldn't handle it and my body reacted the only way it knew how."

She didn't explain why she'd rushed outside instead of to the bathroom. That was one thing even she didn't truly understand. She knew it had something to do with the stars, and with the past life Carter had told her she had, but never wanted to talk too much about, claiming it wouldn't be right and she needed to live her own life, rather than worry about the past. She had managed to get him to reveal that she had a soulmate though, and that had been enough for her. Knowing she had something to look forward to helped her deal with not knowing how to use the gifts she'd been born with (and the ones that hadn't manifested yet).

"I'm sorry." Clark murmured quietly. "I didn't know helping us would hurt you like that."

"It's not your fault." She assured him. "I only reacted so badly because I'm young yet, still learning to use my gift. And I don't regret it, I'll never regret helping someone. Also, I'm much better now. So no need to feel guilty."

She was saying the truth. She was no longer trembling, and though she did feel a bit tired, that would pass too.

Even then, Clark insisted on leaving as soon as they were sure there was nothing wrong with Lex anymore. Promising to keep the secrets about Silbhé's gift and name, as well as her family. The last thing they wanted was for other people to go looking for them.

 **xXx**

They didn't see Clark again for years, two and a half years. And then, one day Clark appeared abruptly in the middle of the backyard, again. The entire city was shutting down and no one had the slightest idea why, other than it had something to do with a virus. It was why Bastian and Carter weren't home, they'd been called in to their respective jobs, to try and make sure someone wouldn't take advantage of the whole situation to steal their project (they worked together) especially considering they were so close to going public. Clark was alone, and looking so wired up it surprised no one when Silbhé dropped the just-dried dishes she'd been helping Kendra put away and hurried outside to him.

"What do you need me for?" She asked without hesitation.

She was fourteen years old, and while her dad and uncle would probably disagree, she didn't see herself as a child anymore. For years she'd been having dreams; though she was sure they were more than that, that they were connected to Rossi. Though she wasn't called that in most of those dreams, no, most people called her Tinúviel… Princess Tinúviel. It'd seem that her past was much more complicated than Carter ever knew. She hadn't told them much yet, didn't want to worry them; she only shared with Kendra, who more than a cousin was her sister, and the person Silbhé trusted the most in the world.

"I wish more than anything that I didn't have to get you involved in this." Clark admitted grimly. "If your dad's around he'll probably say you shouldn't."

"He's not." Silbhé cut him off. "And even if he were, even if he didn't like it, he'd let me go, because he knows I have to help. Now tell me how I can do that."

The story Clark told her (and Kendra, who'd followed her out) was beyond insane: meteor showers and spaceships, a boy who'd grown up believing himself human only to discover he was not, insane AIs obsessed with controlling him, and the Luthors (both Lex and Lionel) smacked dab in the middle of it all. They both knew about Clark, about his gifts, and while Lionel seemed to like to pretend that he'd turned a new leaf (like that somehow excused what he'd done in the past), Lex acknowledged the mistakes he'd made and was trying to do better. He'd helped Lana Lang leave Smallville when she didn't want to stay anymore, helped the Sullivans handle things when Lionel turned on them (because Chloe was a witness in the trial against him), he'd also done everything in his power to help gather the kryptonian artifacts spread across the globe, and protect the Swanns (father and daughter) when the Teagues (mother and son) went nuts on them and tried to kill them. Things had been a bit touch and go since the second meteor shower and the revelation that there might be other kryptonians, ones who did not follow Clark's moral code. When he got to the part about Fine, Zod and what his (Clark's) father's AI told him should be done, and exactly why he couldn't do it…

"Nor should you." Silbhé told him vehemently, taking Clark's hands in his, channeling as much serenity and confidence as she could. "No matter what may happen, if there's one thing you should never do Clark, it is compromise your principles. Never do something you do not believe in. For if you so much as try, you will regret it forever."

It was odd, how she was so small (she'd always been small), and he by comparison was taller and broader than the average grown man. And yet… in that moment she sounded much older than her years, and her voice held a power and an authority that Clark couldn't help but feel like she was much, much more than her body should be able to encompass.

"I will help you." She assured him for good measure.

Kendra stayed behind. Their fathers were already going to go nuts if they arrived before Silbhé got back. Also, like Kendra said, she had nothing to offer, not yet. While both girls had been training with Carter and some of his friends for a year already, they were nowhere near ready for a battle; then again, Silbhé wasn't going there as a warrior, but as an empath. Clark believed that, just like she'd been able to take away the fear and other effects the drugs were causing Lex, she might be able to take away what Fine had done to him to turn him into the vessel for Zod. Silbhé could only hope he was right.

They stopped running just outside of Clark's barn. Silbhé could sense the two presences inside and she signaled to Clark to stop. She whispered in his ear, so low she couldn't quite hear herself speaking (and hopefully low enough the other two wouldn't hear her even with their enhanced senses) to leave her there and go ahead, she'd find her way inside without being noticed.

One of the first things Silbhé had recalled from her past life was her penchant for climbing trees, it was something she'd begun practicing even before she started training with Carter and the old members of the JSA (and who could have ever imagined that her uncle was an honest-to-the-stars superhero?!). She found her way straight into the second floor of the barn, where she carefully kept herself to the shadows, making not a sound, and hoping that the argument and fight going on would keep her heartbeat and breathing from being too obvious. Even then she barely managed to control herself when Clark suddenly landed less than ten feet from her; a moment later Lex was there and they each did their best to make the other submit. It ended with Lex on his back, Clark holding a clearly not-human blade against his neck.

"Do it, Clark." The voice of the other person Silbhé had known was there, called right then. "Let's see if you're really your father's son."

"I am." Clark announced, before putting the knife down and holding Lex down by the shoulders. "I am Johnathan Kent's son. Silbhé, now!"

She didn't need anything else to be said. In a second Silbhé rushed out of the shadows to throw herself just over Lex, pressing her palms against his temples and calling her power as strongly as she could. She had no flute at hand, and she needed skin-to-skin touch to make sure it'd go alright, but she still needed the music. The hazel-eyed girl wasn't fully aware when she began humming something that sounded very much like the Moonlight Sonata, her favorite sonata. It focused her, and her power, like nothing else could have.

"What is happening?" The alien entity bellow them yelled. "What is she doing?"

"What I cannot. What is right." Clark answered solemnly.

Silbhé had used her powers on Lex before and that helped her, it allowed her to differentiate between what was just him, and what didn't really belong there. She could also tell that the part that was all Lex was aware of what was going on too, and he was fighting to help her. That was a good thing. She held onto him and the two together turned the combined force of their wills, and her gift, on the force trying to control him.

It wasn't an easy fight. At some point Silbhé felt like she might not be strong enough, she was feeling faint… yet she refused to surrender, it just wasn't her style. And then, something inside her seemed to snap, except it wasn't as if something had broken, all the opposite in fact, it was as if something had just fallen into place.

*Tell Clark I'm sorry.* Lex's mind whispered straight into hers.

*You tell him.* Silbhé replied, power seemed to be pouring into her all of a sudden and she took hold of Lex's core, pulling on it at the same time as she forced herself back into the real world.

Silbhé came back into the real world panting, Clark kneeling to one side, one hand on her back, the other on Lex's shoulder; he looked beyond worried. What shocked her most was that her uncle Carter was there too, in her Hawkman get-up, mask included, and sword in hand. Also, only a gray-and-black pool of gunk remained of what had once been an alien entity (Fine, Clark had called him).

"Hey…" Silbhé called out-loud, only then noticing how scratchy her voice sounded.

"You were screaming for a little while there." Clark answered the unasked question quietly. "Scared the life out of all of us."

"It also gave me an opening to take down that freakish thing over there." Hawkman pointed out, pointing at the gunk with his sword, before turning to Clark. "My brother is not going to be happy you put his daughter in danger again."

"My life, my choices, Kontar." Silbhé stated purposefully as she got on her feet.

"Rossi!" Hawkman cried out, catching up with the significance of her using that name.

"I remember." She nodded in acknowledgment. "It's giving me a hell of a headache… and I just might be sick. But I do remember."

Clark sped off and back in a second, carrying a bucket. Hawkman actually chuckled.

"Clark…?" Lex woke up right then.

He blinked, either surprised by all the people around, or his mind was just catching up.

"He was doing it on purpose." Silbhé informed Clark matter-of-factly, mainly because she knew Lex never would. "He knew what was happening to him and was trying to provoke you into killing him before it became too late. That's the only reason he said the things he said."

Clark's expression softened then, Lex just groaned.

"Do you think I could ever do that Lex?" Clark asked, not really trying to mask the hurt in his tone. "That I could kill you? You're my best friend! Almost like my brother…"

"Precisely." Lex nodded. "What do you think it'd have done to me if that… that thing had managed to take over me, used me to hurt you?"

Clark just shook his head. He shouldn't be surprised, he and Lex were both equally stubborn.

They were about to say something else, when suddenly Silbhé doubled over, would have fallen if it hadn't been for Clark holding her up.

"Silbhé?!" Everyone cried out in shocked.

"Dad…" She forced out, panting for breath all over again. "Something's wrong with my dad."

They weren't anywhere near Metropolis, of course not, but she was an empath, one who'd just received a huge boost in power (even if she still had no idea how that had happened, though she suspected her match might be involved somehow). Her dad… he was her dad, so of course she was connected to him in someway. It's how she knew something was very, very wrong with him.

"I need to get to my dad." She declared, it wasn't a question.

 **xXx**

Clark insisted on taking her, if only so they might be a little faster (and because he could stop just around the hospital, to allow them to be inconspicuous, unlike Carter in that getup). It was too late by the time they arrived anyway. Bastian was alive, but just barely. Silbhé rushed into the hospital, screaming her name, and wanting to see her father. The nurses and doctors were so overworked with the virus mess (that had apparently resolved itself just a few minutes earlier -around the same time a certain alien entity had been destroyed…-) that no one wondered how the teenager knew her dad was there when the ambulance carrying him had just arrived and they hadn't even begun trying to contact family just yet.

No one tried to keep Clark back either, probably realizing the girl was going to need someone with her. They lead the two to one of the beds in the corner of the ER, separated by a curtain. There were no doctors around, it had already been declared there was nothing they could do. Bastian had bled out too much, even if they connected him to a bag, or two, it wouldn't have been enough, he was already slipping. All the doctors could do (and they'd already done) was make him comfortable.

Silbhé didn't stop, she got on the bed, curling against her father's chest.

"Papa…" She sobbed.

At least he wasn't in pain anymore, she didn't think she could have handled that.

"It's okay, everything will be okay sweetheart." Bastian whispered, kissing her hair. "Carter will take very good care of you. You will be alright."

"Will you tell Mama I love her?" Silbhé asked, barely managing to keep her voice from breaking. "And I love you too, love you both, very, very much."

Neither of them saw the point of hiding what they knew to be true. Bastian was dying. But there was no point in getting hysterical over it either. Silbhé was going to miss him, of course she was, she hurt like hell at the thought of losing her dad and yet… and yet in that moment she had an understanding of life and death that even an hour ago she hadn't had. The most important part? She knew death wasn't the end. She knew her dad was going to meet her mom, the woman he loved most in the world, again; and one day, just maybe, if the stars willed it so, she would see them both again. And even if, for whatever the reason, she didn't, she wouldn't be alone, she never would. Because she had Uncle Carter, and Kendra, and other friends like Courtney, Clark, and maybe Lex.

Bastian Hall died a few minutes later, holding onto his daughter while she played the Moonlight Sonata on her flute for him (Clark had gone and gotten it for her). Carter and Kendra were there too by then (him back in civvies).

They didn't find out what had happened exactly until much later. Apparently the company Carter and Bastian worked for was a subsidiary of Swann Solutions, a company that had belonged to Dr. Virgil Swann, and inherited by his daughter Patricia (the world was small, and apparently getting smaller every day). Their boss had insisted that all employees stay inside the building when the loitering and vandalism began, to keep them safe. Some had chosen to go anyway, fearing for their families. With Carter being gifted, the 'brothers' had agreed that he'd be the one to go see to the girls. Until Bastian heard a girl crying and calling for help outside the building…

In the end Bastian… Sebastian had been a good man, the kind that couldn't just stand and do nothing when someone needed help. He'd managed to save the girl: Bette (who, as it turned out, was a gifted herself) from being raped and possibly murdered, though it cost him his life. Carter had made arrangements, to find a foster family for the girl, make sure she'd be alright, that his brother's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

The funeral took place three days later. Silbhé had decided her father should be cremated, she hoped to one day be able to take those ashes and pour them on her mother's grave. It was symbolic, as she knew her mother wasn't there, nor was her father, but still. It felt right. Clark and Lex were both there (Lex had actually called to ask permission, not wanting to bother them if he wasn't welcome), and even Miss Swann made an appearance. It was during the wake that the two heirs sat down together to talk, deciding to join forces in order to launch the project the Hall's had been working on, once and for all.

Perhaps the most shocking presence at the funeral was the black man in the black slacks, tunic-like button up and what looked like a metallic necklace made in the design of teeth. He was accompanied by a girl about Silbhé age's, perhaps a bit older, in a demure black dress. They introduced themselves quietly, they hadn't known Bastian directly but both, especially the young girl, had been great fans of Bastian's work. They hoped it would be continued, and the man expressed an interest in supporting the project, when it was finally properly launched (which made Silbhé send them to Lex and Patricia to work on that).

"Who was that?" Kendra hurried to her as soon as they were all gone.

"Who?" Silbhé inquired, surprised by the depth of interest Kendra was showing, it was unusual in her. "The Wakandans?"

"Wakandans?" Kendra repeated, surprised. "What are Wakandans doing here? And in Uncle Bastian's funeral?"

"Well, you remember how the whole project was made public during the legal battle against Lionel Luthor?" Silbhé reminded her. "Apparently they've been following things since then. They claim to be very interested in the project, in seeing it go through and become a success."

"Did they tell you their names?" Kendra insisted.

"Why are you so interested?" Silbhé was really curious about that.

"Don't know, I just am." Kendra shrugged her shoulders, as if trying to make less of it, though she was still waiting for an answer.

"The girl is Shuri and the man is T'Challa." She finally revealed.

She almost thought she could see her almost-sister repeating T'Challa's name under her breath but she couldn't be sure, particularly since Kendra was already walking away.

Clark Kent, who was there with his new girlfriend (and oldest friend) Chloe Sullivan, approached Silbhé next as she stood close to her father's urn, with a picture of him and her mom, laid before a huge arrangement of burnt orchids, her dad's favorite flower, with which he'd proposed to Aislinn (the arrangement had been sent to Kathryn, as a way to express her sentiments, even if it was too risky for her to be there personally).

"Are you alright Silbhé?" He asked her quietly.

"I will be." She nodded, at Chloe's disbelieving look she explained. "Look, I know this is bad, okay? And I know some might think me… emotionless, because I've stopped crying already but the thing is. I know my dad is in a better place."

"You believe in heaven." Chloe deduce.

"Heaven, paradise, the Other Side… it doesn't matter what you call it, doesn't even matter what it actually is." Silbhé tried her best to explain. "He's with my mom, that's enough for it to be a better place for him. I mean… it's not that he didn't love me, because of course he did, always. He did everything for me, I know that. But he never stopped loving my mom, and missing her. And now they're together again, and that's a good thing. Yes I will miss him, I'll miss them both, but I'm not alone. And he knew that. It's what allowed him to be at peace when he died. So I will not be a brat and cry about the injustices in the world, about forces taking him from me, because I know it wasn't like that. And I know that, wherever my parents are, they're watching over me, and if I were to cry and go hysterical that would only hurt them. So I won't do it."

Chloe just blinked at her, seemingly not knowing what to say to that.

"Hawkman wants to talk to you." Silbhé announced just a moment later.

Clark's eyes widened as he turned to look at his girlfriend, then back at the hazel-eyed girl, who was rolling her eyes at him.

"Please, I can sense, stars, I can practically see the bonds that bind the two of you together." She snorted. "Even if you hadn't told me she was your girlfriend, I would have known." The part that had truly surprised her was learning they'd just gotten together, the bond was quite strong (the kind that spoke of years together, not a day), but she didn't mention that. "In any case Hawkman wants to talk to you about what's been going on in Smallville over the last few years. Maybe you could reach an accord of some kind, make a plan on how to deal with any future trouble, because what happened last Thursday? It cannot happen again. And I'm not saying this just because of my dad, it's everything and everyone. You… we cannot let it happen again."

"No, we cannot." Clark agreed.

And thus the seed for what would come to be known as the Justice League was planted. It wouldn't be easy, for a reincarnated Egyptian prince, an intergalactic traveler (which would later become three), a group of 'retired' heroes, several young gifted and two millionaires with far too much money and time on their hands, to learn to work together. Especially with Lex Luthor hanging around the fringes and offering his aid where he could. Many didn't trust him, but Clark refused to allow his best friend to be insulted, and when even Carter vouched for him…

 **xXx**

Worlds away, the Crown Prince of Asgard, Thor Odinson, followed his mother's (Queen Frigg) directions to one of the private gardens. He'd never been there, it was very different from any of the gardens he'd been to (usually when he was trying to find his mother, or impress a conquest). The flowers were different in ways Thor couldn't fully explain. The garden was limited by bushes of dark-purple small blossoms (lavender), flowers in a dozen different colors and shades all around, in a manner that seemed more eclectic than he ever expected to see in an Asgardian garden (then again, this was his brother's garden, and he did always love chaos), and at the very center of it was a huge tree he was quite sure was from Alfheim (it was a white ash). Loki was actually sitting right on the ground, his back against the tree.

Thor vaguely noticed the way the flowers were swaying, as if moved by an invisible breeze. And there was a sound in the air, like some kind of instrumental music, the blonde prince did not recognize it. Still, his focus was on his brother, who just sat there in his forest green linen tunic and black leather pants. His feet were bare, his hair down, hardly combed at all… Thor wasn't sure he'd ever seen his brother quite like that.

"Plan do you to stand where you are all day?" Loki asked, not even opening his eyes.

"Are you recovered, brother?" Thor wanted to know.

Loki knew why Thor worried. What had happened three days prior… Loki hadn't seen it coming, hadn't been able to do anything about it as his magic flared brightly. It'd been just for a moment, no more than a heartbeat, but that was enough. The fact that he'd blacked out for several minutes, and had actually cried out at some point before that, did not help matters any. He'd had all sorts of visitors the following morning, from healers, to Thor's friends and even both of his parents. There was a reason why he'd chosen to forsake his quarters and take refuge in his private garden. A reason he couldn't explain to anyone, because no one remember his match but him!

"Brother…" Thor began, finally stepping into the garden.

Loki had pondered long and hard about what to do when Thor finally went looking for him, he'd known he would, eventually. And while he knew the old him (the one he'd been before the return of his memories) would have never trusted Thor with something as important as the matter of his match; he also remembered the old Thor, his brother, the one who'd been his whole world, his best friend, his confidant, his greatest support, he wanted that Thor back.

"I'm going to tell you a story Thor, and I want you to pay attention." Loki announced, finally opening his eyes, looking straight at the blonde.

"A story about what?" His brother asked, curious and confused.

"Not what but who." Loki corrected. "The lady with the most beautiful voice in all the realms, Princess Tinúviel… my consort and match."

* * *

So... yeah, that happened. How do you like this verse? I wanted to do something different and realized I hadn't done much with the JSA, Carter and the others yet, and considering the past Carter and Shayera have with Nightingale and Loki... it was a perfect opportunity.

This piece only have two parts, so the remaining part will be up in two weeks. See ya then!

As always, full-sized poster/cover and set of wallpapers can be found in my DA account.


	2. Cantata

And here we are! With the second half of this particular piece. I hope you enjoy it. I don't actually have much to say right now, so I'll go to the point:

Songs in this chapter are: "Mirrors" as sung by Madilyn Bailey (originally from Justin Timberlake), "You're my Hero" as sung by Teresa James (though it's only one stanza) and "You're Mine" by Leah Michele.

* * *

 **Cantata**

Songs tell a story not just with words, but with every note, all pieces of a whole.

The Carters began traveling to Egypt for their summer vacation when Silbhé and Kendra were 11 and eight respectively. Spending their fathers' four weeks of vacation from work in Carter's home country. Those vacations had influenced the girls in several ways, like the choice of languages they learned, both adding Arabic to their lists (though Silbhé's list was significantly longer than her sister's). They were also both studying History, both for Egypt and for Silbhé's own past, and that of her match.

When she was sixteen, Silbhé left Metropolis and traveled to the UK, where she spent a year to finish her two current undergrads (History and Mythology). She was offered a place in their graduate programs for the same topics, but chose to return to Metropolis instead, as she and Kendra had plans. She spent the following year in Metropolis, working as a TA for the same program where she'd studied (and her sister remained) while at the same time continuing her studies of languages (she was fast approaching the dozen).

Shortly after Silbhé's return to Metropolis she attended Clark's and Chloe's wedding, it was a happy event. Though it hadn't come without difficulties, like the psychotic paramedic that had become obsessed with Chloe to the point of kidnapping her and trying to 'make her love him'. The whole thing had become a mess of epic proportions and ended with the death of the psycho in question, at Lois's hands (with a kryptonian blade, though that part had been kept on the down-low) after he 'tried' to kill Clark and ended hurting Chloe instead. What no one except the JL (both superheroes and those of us who liked to help) knew was that Bloom had somehow actually managed to kill Clark (he'd had powers too) and Chloe's own gift had emerged with a vengeance, bringing him back, which was actually what knocked her out.

It was a mess of epic proportions, and perhaps the only saving grace was that everyone on their side had survived.

It was after that that Lex, Trisha (who were engaged), Clark and Chloe founded the Veritas Foundation, to help gifted individuals, especially minors, either those who'd been affected by the two meteor showers, or other phenomenon. The four of them had great dreams about what they might be able to achieve through the Foundation, and everyone in the JL were willing to help in any way they could.

In 2010 (Silbhé being 18 and Kendra 15) the girls traveled to Egypt, not for a summer vacation, but for a longer stay: college. Silbhé would be studying Linguistics, while Kendra was taking classes for both History and Politics, but hadn't yet decided which would be her major. The plan was for the to finish as far as the graduate program in three years.

Things got interesting there when the girls made a friend, a Wakandan girl called Shuri… she already had a degree in Engineering and was double majoring in Biology and Chemistry. A true genius the girl (in areas neither Silbhé nor Kendra really cared for, but they respected her skill). They became so good friends that in the summer they invited Shuri to go with them to America, to which Shuri agreed. Even made plans for her brother to meet her in Metropolis for a short break himself, before the two returned to Wakanda.

No one expected what would be happening that summer…

The first week back in Metropolis the girls had a lot of fun, though Shuri couldn't fail to notice that the sisters (Carter had adopted Silbhé after Bastian's death) were still holding back. And then they happened to come across a psycho with a gift for ice, trying to kill Courtney Whitmore (their friend, and one of the junior members of the League… one of those who'd be joining officially once she finished school, along with Clark's cousin -kryptonian- Kara; Silbhé and Kendra themselves had an open invitation to join once they returned from Egypt).

Silbhé didn't even stop to think about it, she threw out her arm, calling on a shield to stop the cryokinetic's next attack, giving Kendra the opportunity to hurry and help Courtney move away. Seeing himself faced against four girls, rather than one, made the attacker decide to flee. And then the girls were left to face their new friend, who was looking at them with a mix of awe and some other emotion even Silbhé had trouble naming, until Shuri spoke.

"That was awesome!"

So apparently Shuri not only didn't have a problem with them being gifted, she loved it. So the sisters told her a somewhat censored version of their stories, with Carter's help (including their past lives, but not mentioning Silbhé's name change or the reason). The hardest part was perhaps explaining how Silbhé was a born empath and healer, but the magic wasn't really hers. It was something that had come after Dark Thursday. Apparently whatever had snapped inside Silbhé that day hadn't just reinforced her empathy and released her healing, she'd also gained the ability to call on her match's magic.

Silbhé and Loki still hadn't met. Even with everything that had happened their bond wasn't actually active, so he couldn't use it to track her, and as a mortal she could have never gone to Asgard anyway. Also, Silbhé couldn't help the feeling that it wasn't yet time for them to meet. The time would come, just not yet.

Shuri loved the story, especially where it came to soulmates, she found the whole thing absolutely romantic. Even if Silbhé was the only one of them who had a confirmed match; Shuri claimed Kendra must surely have one as well, she just hadn't met him yet.

Of course, when she said that she wasn't expecting what would happen the next day, upon her brother's arrival. That was one thing no one could have foreseen.

Things were escalating with the cryokinetic who, as Chloe had just discovered (by hacking more deeply into government databases than most of the JL were comfortable with), was working with Checkmate. The very same organization that had made the JSA's lives impossible back in the eighties and nineties (after the government tried to turn the heroes into their lapdogs, only for them to refuse, vehemently). That whole mess had ended with either the deaths or incarceration of more than half the JSA, Shayera Hall included.

For that very reason the girls had been persuaded to stay either at home or at the Watchtower (both places having been made as safe as was possible by means both of technology and magic). Shuri was with them. Being the genius that she was, she'd a lot of ideas, and was delighted by the prospect of helping a group of actual superheroes take down the bad guys.

That was also why it was Clark and Chloe who picked up Shuri's brother T'Challa at the airport, rather than the girls. To him they only said that the girls were in the middle of a project and would rather not interrupt them. Of course, T'Challa knew that while they weren't lying to him, there was a lot that wasn't being said.

Truth was the JL never planned on telling T'Challa anything, the opposite in fact. They'd been very lucky that Shuri's reaction had been so positive, and she'd promised never to betray the trust the girls had in her. Then Icicle II (because, apparently, the bastard was the son of the same man who had caused so much pain to the JSA!) made an appearance, attacking the Watchtower right as the Kents were arriving with T'Challa in Clark's truck.

Chloe cursed, noticing that, used as most people might be to 'powered' fights breaking out both in Metropolis and Smallville, it'd still be too dangerous for Clark to use his gifts openly (the world didn't have a good track record when it came to heroes revealing their true identities, what with the JSA, the X-Men, Iron Man… he didn't have it so bad, but then again, he was probably too public a figure and had too much money to be as much at risk as they'd be). Clark looked like he was about to throw caution to the wind anyway, and Chloe noticed from the corner of her eye how their guest shifted slightly, into what she might almost call a battle stance. There was no need in the end.

The girls saw Icicle arrive. They weren't worried, the protections in the Watchtower were enough for them not to need to worry. And the Clark's truck arrived.

"Brother!" Shuri cried out in reflex.

"Okay, now what do we do?" Kendra asked nervously.

It really was up to them, as actual League were currently in Gotham, working out a plan to take Checkmate out once and for all.

"We need to help them." Silbhé gave the logical answer. "But we don't have suits."

No, they didn't. It hadn't seemed necessary as they wouldn't be joining until they were done with college, and that was two years away yet, at least.

"I… there's mom's things." Kendra offered very quietly. "Thing you can get them here?"

They were in the museum, but Silbhé knew the place inside and out, she could work Loki's magic enough to summon the things, so she just nodded.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

She knew how important it all was. The plan had always been for them to have armor made, just for them, not just because it'd be better, but because neither of them had ever felt too comfortable at the thought of wearing Shayera's. The armor, the weapons, they had been hers, and not just Shayera Hall's (nee Saunders), but Sharifa's, Chay-Ara's and every other incarnation in between. There was an imprint of her soul in each and every piece and it seemed wrong for anyone else to wear it… (there was a reason why there had never been another Hawkgirl). And yet… desperate times called for desperate measures.

It looked like either Clark, or T'Challa, were about to do something beyond insane as ice was shot at them, only for a lilac-white tinted translucent shield to appear before them as someone called from above. They all turned in time to see a girl crouched on a ledge, about halfway up the tower (most of them having no idea how she'd managed to get there… as not many would know she could teleport). Then, before Icicle had a chance to attack again, he found himself being the one under attack instead, by a beautiful girl with lightly tanned skin, golden armor, boots and helmet, as well as huge hawk-like wings on her back; she was also holding a mace, which she used to deal a blow to Icicle, before he could properly fight back.

Arm broken, Icicle was forced to flee before he was attacked again. Kendra briefly considered going after him, and in the end decided it wasn't worth the risk. She didn't have experience controlling the wings, and that could turn problematic. So instead she focused on sort-of floating close enough to the others to check on them.

"Are you alright?" She asked, voice low, letting the helmet affect it just enough that her voice wouldn't be easily recognized.

"We're alright, thank you." Chloe nodded, knowing better than to say any names.

Clark just nodded, a part of him wondering how big Carter's rant was going to be once he found out what had just happened; because he would find out, there was no doubt about it.

And then Kendra's eyes turned towards T'Challa, wanting to make sure her friend's brother was alright. She blinked, opened her mouth, then blinked again.

"Time to go!" Silbhé called in Arabic from above.

Kendra held onto that, flapping her wings to go up. She'd need to do a bit of a turn in order to go back inside the Watchtower without any civilians seeing her, but that was alright, she could do it… even as she did, most of her focus wasn't on her maneuvers, not even on the wings (which was probably why her landing ended being more than a little rough), instead it was on the pair of midnight eyes that had snared her so completely that for all of a minute she'd had no idea where was up or down, or even how she was still in the air at all… yeah, life had just taken quite an interesting turn for her.

Silbhé had heard (and read) different accounts of how people claim it felt to find one's soulmate. Some said it was fireworks, like some 4th of July bullshit; others spoke of gravity, like the Earth was no longer what held them in place, but instead the love. Having gained the memories of her past life, Silbhé remembered exactly what it'd been like when she'd first laid eyes on Loki. The first thing she'd noticed had been his eyes, so green… she'd lived in a realm that consisted mainly of forests, yet never before had she seen a green quite like the one in his eyes. The second had been his voice, the way it shaped each syllable of her mother-tongue, never before had words as simple as a formal greeting sounded so beautiful to her ears… So maybe each person reacted differently when they met their perfect match. She certainly knew the moment she looked into her sister's eyes, after she'd changed back into her jeans and top, that she'd found hers.

"Uncle Carter's gonna go ballistic." She deadpanned.

 **xXx**

As it turned out they were wrong. Carter took things pretty calmly, his only condition was that, if they actually proceeded, it had to be Kendra's choice, and she would be finishing college first. She agreed to both, also, plans were made for T'Challa to stay longer in Metropolis, and for future trips from the girls, and possibly Carter, to Wakanda. She wanted to get to know T'Challa better, meet the rest of his family, see what might be her future home. The stakes were only raised further when T'Challa revealed, in the privacy of the Carter home, that he and Shuri were the Crown Prince and Princess of Wakanda!

In the end, despite the last shock, none of the Halls reacted negatively to things which, in fact, seemed to be driving them crazy instead. Especially T'Challa. He found himself unable to sleep that night (the sisters had fixed what had once been Bastian's room for him, while Shuri had the guest-bedroom), so he decided to talk a walk, which ended with him on the back-porch of the house, where he began hearing music, a flute… In the end, curiosity won and he stepped onto the garden, looking for the origin of the melody, when unable to find anything on the porch, the garden, or even the neighboring backyards, he finally turned his eyes up, to find a small figure playing the flute while balancing on the very edge of the roof. He was about to cry out in worry when the melody came to an ending, the girl spun the flute in her fingers twice before it just vanished, and then she jumped.

T'Challa reacted instinctively. Throwing himself onto the tree, hoping he'd reach the right height to catch the girl before she got herself killed… only to find her agilely moving herself from branch to branch, until she reached him.

"My apologies, Your Highness, if I caused you to worry on my behalf." She murmured quietly as she somehow managed to do an elaborate curtsy without losing her balance on the branch.

T'Challa couldn't help but arch a brow, not just at her attitude but her speech patterns. She noticed and brought a hand to the back of her neck.

"Sorry." She forced herself to focus. "I can get lost inside my own head sometimes. Mind if we return to the ground?"

He waved a hand for her to proceed. Which she did. Simply jumping off the tree, disappearing a couple of inches down and reappearing on ground-level. She'd decided in the last moment to teleport instead of climbing. Since she was no longer in an elven mindset it would have been a tad more dangerous than she preferred.

T'Challa landed noiselessly beside her a moment later.

"Are you alright miss?" T'Challa asked, honestly worried.

"Call me Silbhé, and I'm alright." She answered with a soft smile. "Sometimes at night I allow myself to let go a little, and what you just witnessed happens. I promise I'm not in danger. Uncle Carter would have long since done something about it otherwise."

She couldn't fail to notice the reaction T'Challa had to the mention of her uncle, it was small but it was there.

"What's wrong?" She asked, reigning in her empathy.

Her empathy was always active, there was no helping that; but she knew better than to probe into other people's feelings beyond what might be on the surface, that was a violation of their privacy. With family it was different, she could pick up on their feelings, even the ones bellow the surface, due to the bonds they shared, but they knew that and accepted it all. And while a part of her had begun seeing T'Challa and Shuri as family from the moment Kendra acknowledged the match, she knew they didn't see it that way just yet, so she held back.

"How is it that it's all so easy for your uncle, for all of you?" T'Challa want to know. "It's not that I don't believe in this things. I do… I felt it, the moment your sister's eyes met mine. And yet she's so young… does she truly realize what she'd be risking, what she'd be giving up just by choosing to stand by my side?"

"We might be young but never, ever underestimate us, either of us." Silbhé stated first, very seriously. "You doubting her… that's almost as bad as doubting the match itself, and something like that cannot and must not be doubted. It's a gift from the stars."

"You…" Ever so slowly, things began making sense in T'Challa's head.

"I have a match yes, we haven't met yet, not in this life," She exhaled. "It's a bit of a long story, which we'll tell you tomorrow, if you're up for it. For now I'll tell you this, you worry about how Uncle Carter, how all of us can so easily accept your bond with Kendra, but how can we not? Uncle Carter was matched with Aunt Shayera. I never knew her, she died the same day Kendra was born. But they were a match, and not just in this life, they've been a match for over a millennia. Just like my own love and I, we haven't met yet in this life, but I know we've been together before, many years ago. I have the memories."

"How?" T'Challa was in shock by that revelation.

"We don't know for sure." She admitted. "It might have something to do with the fact that he hasn't died yet. He's not from this world, but from another, from a race that lives thousands of years. I died, and now I'm back. We'll find each other one day, when the time is right." She shook her head. "But I'm not the point of this. The point is you and Kendra, and whether you can trust the bond that ties you together, that ties your souls together."

"I… I want to." T'Challa admitted. "The things I feel when I look at Kendra… It's nothing improper I assure you. It's not like that, not…"

"Not yet. No, I didn't think it was. Your bond recognizes that she's too young for that kind of relationship. I'll let you in on a little secret, T'Challa. I've known I had a match since I was eleven years old. Back then the idea of a soulmate… it was a very abstract concept for me, I didn't think of it as a husband, or a lover; instead I saw it as a best friend, as a companion; as someone that would love me absolutely and unconditionally and forever… as would I. While the last part hasn't changed, as I've grown and matured I've added other dimensions to what I believe we're meant to be: friends, yes, but also lovers, confidants, partners… everything. That's how a match works. It's love, in all its forms. And love is a force that when its true can endure time, and space, go through life and death, and it'll never end…"

Silbhé didn't quite notice it when she began swaying. She wasn't even trying to lose herself into her past right then she just… she couldn't help it, there was something inside of her trying to get out. Music had always been a very important part of Silbhé life, it was her connection with the mother she'd lost at so early an age all she could remember of her were whispered endearments, an Irish lullaby, and a figure sitting at the piano, playing the Moonlight Sonata… It'd always been about the music. It was why Silbhé learned how to play the flute and the piano, why she hummed when she couldn't play. But she'd never sang… not in her current life at least. She'd never tried and yet… in that moment she felt the imperious need to do exactly that, so she did:

"Aren't you somethin' to admire?

'Cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror

And I can't help but notice

You reflect in this heart of mine

If you ever feel alone and

The glare makes me hard to find

Just know that I'm always

Parallel on the other side"

"'Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul

I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go

Just put your hand on the glass

I'll be tryin' to pull you through

You just gotta be strong"

"'Cause I don't wanna lose you now

I'm lookin' right at the other half of me

The vacancy that sat in my heart

Is a space that now you hold

And tell me how to fight for now

And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy

Comin' back into you once I figured it out

You were right here all along"

"It kind is like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me

It kind is like you're my mirror"

From all the things T'Challa could have expected to happen that night, that wasn't one of them. And it wasn't even about the singing, because if he was honest with himself, Silbhé Hall had a beautiful voice, perhaps even the most beautiful he'd ever heard. But there was more to it, even if he couldn't describe it right. It was as if, with every word, something changed inside him. And it wasn't even something that he could claim was being forced it was just… it was as if she were somehow gifting him with her same understanding of what a match was supposed to be. The kind of understanding he did not doubt, he just accepted it. And just like that, everything was alright.

"Aren't you somethin', an original

'Cause it doesn't seem merely a sample

And I can't help but stare, 'cause

I see truth somewhere in your eyes

I can't ever change without you

You reflect me, I love that about you

And if I could, I would look at us all the time"

"With your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul

I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go

Just put your hand on the glass

I'll be tryin' to pull you through

You just gotta be strong"

"'Cause I don't wanna lose you now

I'm lookin' right at the other half of me

The vacancy that sat in my heart

Is a space that now you hold

Tell me how to fight for now

And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy

Comin' back into you once I figured it out

You were right there all along"

"It kind is like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me

I couldn't get any bigger

With anyone else beside of me

And now it's clear as this promise

That we're making two reflections into one

'Cause it's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me"

Silbhé didn't notice when she got an audience. At some point Carter had left his bedroom, he was standing looking at her from the back door (remembering the first time he'd heard the Rossignol sing); while Shuri and Kendra were watching from their respective windows. They were feeling Silbhé's song all the way to their cores, just like T'Challa was, except for the part where they (or most of them at least) had already believed in matches beyond a shadow of doubt beforehand.

"Yesterday is history

Tomorrow's a mystery

I can see you lookin' back at me

Keep your eyes on me

Baby, keep your eyes on me"

"'Cause I don't wanna lose you now

I'm lookin' right at the other half of me

The vacancy that sat in my heart

Is a space that now you hold

And tell me how to fight for now

I'll tell you, baby, it was easy

Comin' back into you once I figured it out

You were right here all along"

"It's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me

I couldn't get any bigger

With anyone else beside of me

And now it's clear as this promise

That we're making two reflections into one

'Cause it's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me"

From the very beginning, Silbhé felt almost like she was stepping into another reality. Her body was still standing in the middle of her garden, singing under the starlight; but her mind was light-years away… Then, right as she was singing the last chorus of the song there was one moment, just for a breath, where she could see a figure standing right before her, hair black as a raven's wings and eyes greener than Alfheim's forests, in a linen tunic and leather pants, standing in a garden that seemed to almost be superimposed over her own. Silbhé extended a hand and he did the same; almost, but not quite, like a reflection. She knew she wouldn't be able to touch him, he wasn't really there, just like she wasn't in his garden, but that didn't stop her from trying… he was gone the moment the song reached its end.

By the end of the month, as the Carters waved their goodbyes to T'Challa and Shuri, who were boarding their plane back home, there was a kimoyo bead bracelet shining on Kendra's wrist, a signal of the promise of what was to come.

 **xXx**

In the end Silbhé and Kendra stayed in Egypt a year longer than originally planned, as Kendra decided to turn her Politics degree into one in International Relations, she also made sure to take enough classes to qualify for an Undergrad in Law by the end of it all. Silbhé had added a degree in Literature (mostly for something to do) and took the opportunity to finish rounding her dozen languages. By their graduation the university was very interested in hiring them as professors, and they had offers from several others as well, but they weren't interested.

Silbhé and Kendra had spent every school break over those three years traveling to Wakanda so Kendra and T'Challa could get to know each other (with Silbhé as her sister and chaperon to keep the courting perfect). T'Challa's parents: King T'Chaka and Queen Ramonda totally loved the sisters, and the Dora Milaje took great delight in sparring against them, especially Kendra.

When the engagement was finally made official, the summer following the girls' graduation, presents were offered not just to Kendra, as T'Challa's intended, but also to her family. Knowing the two girls were warriors at heart, their gifts followed that theme: Kendra received a full set of armor, inspired by her mom's, she had wings too, as well as a mace and short sword; all was made of various metals combined with vibranium, enough Nth metal for her to be able to fly, and the vibranium made it so not only was she protected, but her wings functioned well as a shield too. Silbhé, in representation of the family (and because aside from his own kimoyo beads Carter refused any other gifts) received a set of armor herself, inspired a bit by the old legends she so favored; it was a bit more elegant, and reflected her elven soul beautifully; her weapons were a bow and arrows, and a dagger (she already had a set of throwing knives).

While the girls never joined the official JL rooster, they were considered as members and had sworn to answer if they were ever needed. They'd chosen their own nicknames too: Kendra was known as Hathor: goddess of joy, love, music, dance, foreign lands, and protector of kings… she found it quite fitting. Silbhé chose the name of Nightingale, as it reflected her, her past, and the future she hoped to reach one day. T'Challa himself was part of the JL under the same conditions as the girls, under the name of Black Panther.

Much happened during those years. Like in 2012, when an alien army poured out of a hole in the sky and into New York, only to be defeated by a new team of superheroes. Probably the only reason why the JL didn't intervene was because the ones who would have been fast enough to get there in time to do anything had been busy at the time with messes all their own: Impulse in Central City and the Els in the North Pole. They'd still traveled to Manhattan in the days that followed and done all they could to help the people trapped in the wreckage, and whatever else they could think of. It hadn't been that hard, as other gifted were doing the same, so even when they had to use their powers they didn't stand out much.

While Iron Man had already been well-known by then; and there had been enough rumors and 'videos leaked' about the Hulk and two others looked normal enough… Captain America threw many (especially Americans) for a loop and Thor and Loki… that one was a coin toss, there were almost as many people who loved them as there were who hated them, either because their existence went against their beliefs (and if someone's faith couldn't stand there being gifted individuals who answered to the names of Norse Gods and might be in some way connected to such legends, then maybe it wasn't that strong a faith to begin with!) or simply because of their own xenophobia; there were those who loved them precisely for being aliens (it was the same thing that had happened when Kal-El chose to reveal himself, to a point), or simply for being heroes, like the rest of the Avengers.

Silbhé spent many days staring longingly at a TV or computer screen, or even her cellphone. More than once her family had asked her why she didn't simply go to NY to find him (they knew who her match was), but she didn't believe the time was right just yet. Though she didn't tell them either when the right time would come.

In 2015 the laws of physics went absolutely nuts, and that was just the beginning. That time the League did intervene, not in the actual battle against the dark-elves, but making sure that the creatures that found their way through one of the many portals into Earth wouldn't hurt innocents (someone needed to do that, and Thor and Loki were so focused on their actual enemy, they hadn't considered that part). Silbhé, Kendra and T'Challa weren't there for that one, as they were in Wakanda, where Kendra was undergoing a series of tests to qualify not only as SIC of the Panther Tribe, but as Crown Princess and future Queen of Wakanda (a Warrior Queen). Silbhé herself had taken part in some of those rituals to join the tribe as well; they were family after all.

Kendra and T'Challa married just a few months later, in early Fall. A beautiful ceremony. After the years she'd spent visiting the country, and all the trials and ceremonies she had gone through at her own insistence, the people loved her. They no longer saw her as a foreigner, she was one of them; Silbhé too they saw the same way, something they were both very grateful for.

In late Spring of 2016, yet another mess took place. This time with the fall of SHIELD. Though that was one that Watchtower and Shuri managed to catch early enough for them to do something about it. After a virtual meeting between the JL and the royal family in Wakanda (which included Silbhé and Carter, to a degree) it was decided that they'd let SHIELD handle their own trouble, but they would do their best to save as many innocents as they could. So Chloe and Shuri dove into the information Black Widow had insanely decided to dump on the web and the heroes spread out to try and rescue as many 'burnt agents' and their families as they could. It wasn't an easy job, and some they just couldn't get there in time. After handing over the information the hackers also did their best to purge it from the web as fast as possible, the less time people had access to it, the better. And all along some couldn't help but wonder who could possibly be that insane? To throw so many lives away just with a click… it wasn't right.

It was Shuri who gave her the file in the end. The one SHIELD had been keeping about Loki (after making sure not even a piece would be left, anywhere, or of any of the other Avengers, just for good measure). And so Silbhé found out everything that had happened that concerned her beloved. How SHIELD had first heard from him during Thor's chaotic first visit back in 2011, when he'd apparently been exiled by his father, stripped of his powers, for some reason no one was clear on. How Loki'd been the one to initially lead the Chitauri invasion in 2012, not by his own choice, but because he was being used. He'd been found by an evil being called Thanos, tortured and then mind-controlled… (and Silbhé remembered who Thanos was, the Mad Titan, remembered him from the old 'myths' in both Alfheim and Asgard, and she didn't want to even begin to imagine what, by the abyss, could have happened to put her match in such a position). Thankfully Thor had realized what was going on, got Loki back, and they fought together with the rest of the Avengers on NY. Then they'd gone back to Asgard for a while, traveling back and forth for a year, then mostly staying away for the next; before dropping back right on time for what they all called the Convergence (the mess with all the portals in 2015). There was also a note there that mentioned they'd left again after that, taking Dr. Jane Foster with them and hadn't returned until a little while after the crisis with SHIELD and HYDRA, announcing that Dr. Foster was Thor's intended (and as such future goddess and Queen of the Realm Eternal). Loki also had claimed to be taken, but refused to give any specifics.

Silbhé had no doubt that he remembered her, or at least who she used to be nine centuries prior (Princess Tinúviel); but she was curious about how much he might know about her present. If he might have seen her in dreams, or even waking visions (like when she'd sung that first song, in the garden in Metropolis); if he might be as eager for the moment when they'd meet again as she was. If anyone were to ask when that moment would come, when the 'right time' would be, Silbhé wouldn't have had the slightest idea how to answer. It wasn't something she knew, she just felt it, deep inside.

The next big disaster happened in the Summer of 2017, and Silbhé, Kendra and those close to them found themselves involved in a most unexpected manner. It began with a sudden visit from two people: Nick and Kate Fury, the former co-Directors of SHIELD. Shocked as she was by their presence there, Silbhé only waited long enough for her aunt to nod that it was alright, before throwing herself at her and embracing her tight. She hadn't see her aunt in person since she was six years old, and the only communications they'd had in that time (for a value of it) were the orchids Kathryn had sent to Bastian's funeral, and the pictures Silbhé had left in return, hidden by her mom's grave after pouring her dad's ashes in it.

Kendra, Carter and the Wakandan royals knew just enough about Silbhé's past to understand what that reunion meant for the two women, after nearly twenty years of not seeing each other; Nick, while he'd never known what became of Kathryn's family, had known her enough to deduce they weren't dead, and known better than to ask. Kathryn's pretending to be crushed by the loss (and keeping any future investigations off the books) had probably kept her alive; while the two of them knowing as much as they did gave them an edge when HYDRA finally revealed itself and they were forced to fight.

"What brings you here?" Carter was the one to eventually ask the question.

"We've come to ask for help." Kathryn admitted, looking first at Carter, and then turning fully towards the royals. "Not for ourselves, but for others who need it… or rather will need it, soon."

Nick was the one to explain things for the most part. About Stark and the Ultron Program, how it was supposed to be a measure for the world to be protected without depending on heroes like the Avengers or the JL all the time; how things kept not working out and thus Stark decided to pull the plug on the project, instead creating the Iron Legion. Kathryn told them about the scepter Loki had wielded during the first Chitauri invasion, which SHIELD had confiscated and then lost, only to have it end in HYDRA's hands, who'd experimented on it, and on dozens of people, only two of which had survived, ending up with abilities: the Maximoff twins.

It didn't end there, as Nick took up the explanation. About the mission against Von Strucker, the recovery of the scepter, the mess in Avengers Tower, and the creature that had emerged from it: Ultron. Everyone in Wakanda knew already what had happened in Maputo Bay, in the Salvage Yard; and the news of the chaos in South Korea had been brought in by one of the Doras shortly after the arrival of the former Agents.

"Can we track this thing, Ultron?" Kendra asked, the beginnings of a plan in her mind. "Find out where he's going so we can be there and stop him before more people get killed or injured?"

"How would we do that?" Queen Ramonda inquired.

"Vibranium!" Shuri cried out, turning the tablet in her hands (she'd rather not use her kimoyo beads in front of a spy she didn't trust) and showing a still from the Salvage Yard, with what looked like the remains of a safe. "We could never detect things inside those ships, not with all the different metals interfering, but once that robot got the contents out… our radar lit up. It's vibranium, and a hell of a lot of it. I think that thing, Ultron, might have managed to find Klaue and got it from him. In any case, we can track that."

"I like that plan." T'Challa agreed.

He didn't even ask the girls if they were going, he knew they were. So instead he went to make the necessary arrangements.

"I'll call in some back-up." Carter decided after a moment.

Because if things got as bad as he'd a feeling they might, they were going to need it.

 **xXx**

It wasn't as easy as they'd have expected, as their equipment dropped two locations initially. Of course, once they managed to make out each signal, the fact that one originated in a quinjet flying over the Atlantic, in the direction of Europe lead to the assumption that the Avengers were on it. So they focused on the second signal instead: on Novi Grad, Sokovia.

The Justice League and the Wakandan contingent arrived in two jets (the latter Wakandan, the former designed by Lex, with some kryptonian suggestions and built with the best materials money could buy). Other Wakandan jets were on stand-by with the Dora Milaje, just in case. Also, while most of those on the planes were the heroes, Shuri had tagged along, handling their jet and to do what she could against Ultron from the internet; Lex and Chloe would be doing the same from the League's jet.

They arrived to Sokovia right as the Avengers were working on getting the people out. There the team gathered to make a plan, it was Steve Rogers who went to meet them.

"I am Captain America, who are you?" He asked, straight out.

"I am Hawkman." Carter, in full regalia, chose to take charge (usually that would be up to Superman, but they decided to make an exception). "This is the Justice League: Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Impulse, Cyborg, Black Canary, Supergirl, Manhunter, Zatanna, Stargirl, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Hathor, Black Panther and Nightingale. Nkosazana, Julius and Cyan are in the jets, ready to provide hacking assistance."

"How much do you know of what's going on?" Rogers asked. "And how?"

"Kathryn Fury is my aunt." Nightingale announced, so happy that she could finally acknowledge that fact again. "She and her husband dropped by Wakanda to let us know what was going on, and that the trouble wasn't over just yet. So here we are, to help."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Rogers insisted.

"You don't, but I'm not sure you can risk turning us away, not with the stakes being as high as they are." Kendra pointed out evenly.

She was right, and Rogers knew it. So he proceeded to explain the plan: get the people of Novi Grad out. One of their own had gone to Von Strucker's castle to rescue another of their team who had been abducted in South Korea. They hoped they'd manage to empty the city and then battle Ultron, making sure no innocents would be getting involved.

"You've heard him people." Hawkman called once it was all explained. "Lets get moving!"

Minutes later the League knew Rogers had informed his team about them as, even as they came across some of them, none made a comment.

They'd managed to evacuate nearly ¾ of the population when, all of a sudden, with a huge rumble of the earth, the whole city began rising into the air.

"What the hell?!" More than half the JL cursed, most of them not in English.

While Hawkman's wings had been made obvious from the very start (not like he could hide them) Hathor's were completely different. When not needed, her wings folded so perfectly against her back that they looked like they were simply plating on her armor. And then, as the city began to rise and the building broke beneath her feet, Hathor fell. Several cries were heard. The Captain even seemed to be considering going after her (though how that would have helped, no one would ever know), when suddenly the wings appeared to spring off Hathor's back, allowing her to rise once again, leaving the closest Avengers staring at her in shock.

T'Challa couldn't help the huge grin as he turned to look at Hawkeye, who'd been berating him about not caring about his teammate, until he saw her wings…

"Also," He pointed out, very matter-of-factly. "She's more than just a teammate. She's my wife."

Hawkeye just had no words for that (and to think that he'd no idea of the ways many of the others were connected: married couples, siblings, and of course a father and two daughters…).

A minute later they all got the news from Iron Man of how they were rising, and what would happen when they fell (Shuri had hacked the signal in their comms to make sure they were all connected together.

"What do we do then?" Supergirl would rather hear a plan of action rather than focus on the bad.

"We get the rest of the civilians off this rock, hopefully ourselves too, and then make sure it never touches ground again." Nkosazana stated.

Silence was her reply, as if the others were waiting for some kind of punchline, or perhaps some 'better plan'. Iron Man put them straight.

"It's really the best plan." He agreed.

"Then lets get these people off this rock now." Superman stated.

"How?" Black Widow wanted to know. "Even with all our fliers and Loki working together it will take forever."

"No, it won't." Black Panther shook his head. "The cavalry is here."

The backup, the jets carrying the Doras had finally arrived. They'd taken longer because the crafts were bigger; also, they'd chosen ones designed for transport rather than battle; which was a very good thing, as it'd help them with the civilians.

Black Panther switched the channel in his own comm as he gave instructions for the Doras to take position around the flying city and get the civilians on board. The JLs jets, and the Avenger's quinjet were already on the air and ready to pick up their own teams as soon as everything else was dealt with.

So the heroes split again. Combing through the half-destroyed city, making sure no one would be left behind, while at the same time fighting Ultron's robots. It wasn't an easy task, but they dealt with it. And ever so slowly they learned to trust the other heroes to have their backs.

"We're down to one!" Nkosazana shrieked through the comms excitedly at some point.

It was a comment that was received with cheering from many of them. It meant there was only one Ultron left. Of course, the two things that happened immediately afterwards showed that they might have started their celebration too soon: first there was the shooting, apparently the last remaining Ultron had managed to hijack the Avengers's quinjet (which was empty, thankfully) and was shooting against the terrified, fleeing civilians.

The other one… well, there were several cries and variations of "We're falling!" though they were entirely unnecessary, as they could all feel it, the moment when it began.

"We need to blow up this thing now!" Someone yelled into the comms, no one even bothered finding out who exactly.

Hawkeye and Black Widow were doing their best to keep the terrified civilians under control and moving towards the nearest Wakandan airship even as Ultron shot in their direction. Which wasn't easy, especially when one woman began calling for her son… Hawkeye didn't even think about it, he set to helping her find her son.

He found him, which was a good thing; the bad was that, as he noticed immediately, the boy was in the path of the upcoming bullets. Hawkeye didn't stop to consider it. It's not like he didn't know what he was doing, because of course he did, but what was his life when compared with that of a child, an innocent? So he took the kid in his arms and curled up around him, so as to shield him as much as possible; hoping what little body armor he'd let Stark put into his clothing would be enough at least for the boy…

The last thing he expected was when a figure landed abruptly behind him, platinum-colored wings with golden tips enveloping all three of them. Something that was followed by a very particular sound, one he knew bullets made when they hit something…

"What…?!" He cried out, half turning around, trying to find out what was going on.

"Don't move!" Hathor barked, pressing herself as close to him as she could. "These wings were made to serve as shield, but they weren't made to cover three people! So don't move, please."

Hawkeye froze, understanding what she meant immediately. The wings were big enough that she could protect herself completely, but protecting herself, him and the kid? That was no easy feat; and with Ultron on the quinjet, she couldn't risk leaving any holes that it might exploit.

"Someone get that thing off the sky!" Hathor practically screamed into her comm.

For a minute or so there was nothing and then… an explosion.

"Was that Loki?" War Machine asked over the comms.

"That wasn't me." The sorcerer in question stated.

"That was Nightingale." Black Panther informed them. "And she cannot answer because that last spell left her completely exhausted and she's practically falling asleep on her feet. I'm taking her to the jet now. Hathor?"

"I'm on the move." His wife stated, even as she took the kid from Hawkeye's arms and shot into the sky (it'd be faster).

"We all need to get off this rock, now." Spider-Man snapped. "Before we get too low and are unable to blow it up."

"You heard the kid people, run!" Iron Man ordered. "I'm blowing this thing to kingdom come in ten… nine…"

"Tony?!" Rogers called loudly, even as he ran towards the closest jet. "If you use up all your power in blowing this thing how are you getting out?"

"I'm getting him out Captain." Loki informed him calmly.

They barely made it on time, but then again, that still meant they made it. Somehow, by some kind of miracle, they had all managed to survive the disaster.

Hawkman was the last one to leave, but that was okay, it wasn't like he actually needed the jets. In fact, he and the kryptonians opted to stay in the air, make sure everything would go according to plan. Not just for Iron Man getting out, but with the city getting blown, make sure that the people they had managed to get out of the city, the ones awaiting down, wouldn't end up hurt or even killed by falling debris…

They did it, the plan worked, they won…

 **xXx**

The last plane landed a quarter of an hour later. It had taken them that long to make sure no more debris was falling, and to find a good landing spot a few miles away from the hole that had once been Novi Grad. Even in that time the millionaires in each team had already begun making calls, pooling resources to make sure that the people who'd just lost everything (except their lives, thankfully) would get the help they needed as soon as possible.

While the survivors gathered together to one side, things kept under control with help from the Dora Milaje, the heroes gathered.

"It was an honor working together." Captain America stated, pulling off his cowl before adding. "Steve Rogers."

Hawkman took the offered hand, but did not take off his own helmet.

"It was a pleasure." He nodded. "But I'm afraid we will not be giving you our names, Captain. We will not put our people in that kind of risk."

"I don't understand..." The blonde murmured.

It wasn't Hawkman who answered him though, but Hathor, as she stepped forward, letting her wings open, showing herself as powerful, as the future queen she was…

"The backing you have, from SHIELD, from Stark, you're as close to untouchable as anyone can be expected to be nowadays." She informed him calmly. "That's not the case with most of us. Even those who might have incredible power at their disposal, we all have people dear to us, family, friends, who do not have the same ability to protect themselves. Revealing our identities would put not just ourselves but them at risk. So we don't do it. As grateful as we might feel for what we've achieved here today, we will not do that."

"But…" Rogers began.

"Cap… she's not wrong." Stark said quietly, before signaling with his head in the direction of one from their own team.

It was Spider-Man, he was still fully covered, mask in place. And yeah, he was the only member of the Avengers whose civilian name wasn't known. Captain Rogers hadn't considered that because he, the team, knew who the boy was. They knew, but nobody else did; which, he was beginning to realize, was the whole point.

"I understand, ma'am." Rogers nodded his head. "I hope we might be able to meet some time, more privately."

"Yeah I… I think that'd be a great idea." Hathor nodded, a bit absently.

Only two people noticed the reason for her distraction, the way her attention had strayed the moment the last member of the Avengers joined their little meeting: Loki.

A few more words were exchanged. Confirmation that they were all alright, planning how they'd help the Sokovians, with the twins taking point (it was their country after all).

By the end of the day a future meeting was tentatively agreed on, to take place a week later in Smallville, Kansas of all places. The Avengers did not understand why, though it was no secret that the JL's HQs, the famed Watchtower, was located in Metropolis, that was still a couple of hours away from the little town they'd agreed on. Truth was that, while very few people outside the town in question knew it, everyone in it was quite aware of gifted, in no small part due to the fact that at least half of the population had been affected by the two meteor showers in some way. Not all of them had active gifts, but there were enough to guarantee everyone had found out in the years since the most recent one.

Smallville was an important part of the JL, not just because of the acceptance they'd found there, but because it represented the hope they had for the future. That one day they might all be able to just be themselves and not put themselves or their loved ones at risk… they could only hope the Avengers would be able to see that.

Hathor could only hope that her sister would be awake and alert for that meeting…

 **xXx**

Silbhé wasn't surprised when learning that she'd been unconscious in their jet when Loki had approached the rest of their team. It hadn't been the right time yet, just like when they'd been so close in London in 2015. But the time had finally come. It was why they were all in Smallville. While Clark had offered his farm for the meeting, considering that it would be safe with his parents off in Washington handling things with the Senate; in the end Lex insisted that they did it in the manor instead, as it was safer. Lex Luthor was almost as public a figure as Tony Stark, and he was willing to put himself in that position, as was his wife. Trish was of the belief that, since they'd be going public with Veritas (beyond Kansas) then it was only a matter of time, as it was no secret just who the founders of the Foundation were. Clark and Chloe were on the same boat, though they were still planning on keeping him and 'Kal' separate in the eyes of most of the world, at least for a while longer.

They were all at Lex's when the Avenger's quinjet landed (or rather, almost all, Silbhé had gotten an emergency call and would be joining them later… Shuri had laughed and said it was a curse). And it wasn't even just the heroes themselves, but those closest to them who were aware of what was going on (except the Kents) had all insisted on being there. Lex and Trish, being the hosts, officially, were the ones to handle introductions on their side.

"How the hell do a bunch of enhanced living in the middle of nowhere end up in touch with two of the richest men in the country?" Clint Barton, Hawkeye, wanted to know.

"Nevermind royalty from a nation that is well-known for its isolationism!" His partner and lover, Natasha Romanoff, added for good measure.

They were actually three, but Bruce was not present, at the League's own insistence. It was better, for him, his wife and daughters if no one at all, not even other teams of heroes, could connect him with his alter-ego.

Half of the league snorted at that.

"The right term is metas." Chloe stated very seriously.

"Excuse me?" Peter Parker called, not expecting that.

"Metas, not enhanced." Chloe clarified. "At least most of us. Victor is probably the only one who actually qualifies as enhanced; while Oliver and Shuri are completely human, if very skilled. The rest of us were either born this way or we were affected by some 'event'."

"An 'event'?" Tony Stark repeated, using the same quotation marks as her.

"The kind that you only come out on the other side on one of two ways, mutated or dead." The blonde reported stated, dead-serious. "Bart was hit by lightning; Courtney gets her powers from the weapon she inherited from her predecessor; John, Clark, Kara, Connor, Dinah, Zatanna, Diana, Carter, Kendra, T'Challa and Silbhé were born as they were." Not quite, but then again, no one outside family knew the truth about T'Challa and the Black Panther tradition. "The rest of us are as we are because of the meteor showers."

"The rest of you?" Clint scoffed. "There's only one other of you."

He was talking about Chloe, who smiled beatifically at him, even as Lex began to smirk.

"Two." Natasha corrected. "And that's only here…"

"The town…" Tony murmured in sudden realization. "I knew there was something off about this place. That's why you wanted us here!"

"How do you feel about going for a coffee?" Trish's offer seemed like a complete non-sequitur, but the Avengers knew it wasn't, it couldn't be.

And it really wasn't. At Lex's insistence, they'd walked instead of taking any cars to the Talon (and Tony certainly had something to say about there only being one coffee shop in the whole town). The reason for their walking thought, became obvious pretty quickly; as they passed a delivery boy who was carrying several bags from the Talon; he seemed to be skating, except he wore no skates, and his feet were a couple of inches off the ground. There was a guy painting a store front; only he was standing on the street, while the brush moved several feet above him, seemingly on its own. A boy was walking down the street, walking several dogs and talking to them, and the dogs were answering! (In barks, which none of them understood, but the boy apparently could!)

"What the hell is this place?" Rodey demanded as soon as they made it to the front of the shop.

"This is Smallville, Kansas..." Clark began, with his best All-American-boy smile.

"Meteor Capital of the World!" Chloe finished before dissolving into giggles.

"Meteors did this?!" Several of the Avengers asked in shock.

"They were detritus from a very distant planet, we don't know if it was something in the planet's core, or the radiation from space, but they're mutagens." Trish explained very seriously. "They've affected plants, animals, the earth and even people. Some got cancer, others became crazy, and a few others became metas. Such is the case of Lex, Chloe, and about 50% total of the current population in Smallville."

"How is it that no one outside this place seems to know?" Sam Wilson was really curious about that part, it sounded too strange.

"Because it's so fantastical most people simply refuse to believe it's true." Chloe told him. "For many years the Torch was the only paper that ran such stories, and the only reason they did was because I was the editor. That was also the reason why not many people paid attention to it, seeing how it was a high-school newspaper and all." She sighed. "Even today, the two of us are the only ones who really write this kind of stories; and the only reason Perry runs them is because he's been to Smallville himself, so he knows they're not lies."

Chloe was also relatively sure that he knew about Clark, if not about most of them, but he was an honorable man and would never give them away. Not for money, and certainly not for any other (more terrible) reason.

"What about your missing member?" Pepper asked at some point.

"Silbhé got a call earlier." Kendra answered honestly. "When our contacts at the local hospital found out we were in town, they asked her to drop by and help."

"There was a really bad accident in the dam, the doctors have been doing their best, but some people are still in delicate condition." Clark explained seriously. "Even though they already have one gifted working in the ER, and he's certainly saved a lot of lives… Silbhé has more power for a few things."

They were so not going to mention Chloe. They weren't going to take that risk.

They were halfway through some very good apple-pie (it was Martha's apple pie, of course it was good) and coffee, when a little bell announced the front door had just opened. Since by some silent accord the town people seemed to be leaving them alone, everyone's attention turned to the door instantly, and to the person entering. The woman was small, though the expression on her face made it obvious that she wasn't quite as young as some people might believe at first glance. With hazel eyes, loose curls of dark auburn hair to her shoulder blades and wearing a short, somewhat loose, sleeveless top of a color somewhere in between ice-blue and pale-lilac, with off-white leggings underneath and flats the same color of the top.

"Hello everyone, I am Nightingale." She greeted them with an elegant curtsy. "Or just Silbhé Hall-Salani, as the case might be."

She was reclaiming her old life, her identity, but without forgetting the family she'd been gifted with in the past twenty years. Carter and Kendra would never stop being family; but now that she had a chance at reclaiming her old one she wasn't going to let it pass her by. Though she'd a feeling that such names weren't going to be that important for much longer.

Steve was about to get on his feet to greet her, welcome her properly; when he noticed someone else was already there. Loki had teleported from the corner where he'd remained for the whole meeting, and was right then standing right before her, holding one of her hands in his.

"My lady…" He breathed out, in a tone none of the Avengers recognized, placing a kiss on the back of her hand. "It's been a very long time…"

"Centuries…" She agreed in the same tone.

None of the Avengers recognized the tone of voice, but a certain blonde prince did. His brother's voice (and that of the lady as well) in that moment sounded exactly as it did the day he'd told Thor all about his match and consort…

"Princess Tinúviel…" Thor blurted out in shock.

"It is good to see you too Thor." She told him, tongue in cheek.

In seconds Thor had gone around the others (he'd been standing by his brother) and embraced Silbhé, so exuberantly he actually lifted her off the ground a couple of inches; though she did not complain, only laughed.

"Hey!" Tony cried out. "What's going on now?"

The sisters turned to look at each other in absolute silence for a second, before breaking into riotous laughter, Stark had no idea…

 **xXx**

In early May of 2018 Kendra gave birth to her first-born child, a daughter: Dakini. The name had been chosen because it was sanskrit, as the name of T'Challa's mother had been, and it meant 'walk in the sky', which was quite appropriate, after all, Kendra and Silbhé were the 'daughters of the sky' the protectors of kings (it was also why Kendra's codename was Hathor). Carter spent three perfect months with his granddaughter; he'd moved definitely to Wakanda since her daughter's marriage, leaving the old Carter home in her daughter's name, for wherever they might need a place in the States. Then, one night, he passed away in his sleep.

Silbhé spent most of the time traveling, helping the League, or the Avengers, spending time with her match since they'd reconnected. Though she never went with him to Asgard. She didn't want to have to deal with the Allfather's prejudice against mortals. She'd heard enough about how he acted from Jane. When she heard about Carter's passing she broke down completely. Loki found her immediately, didn't even need to ask any questions, just picked her up and got her to Wakanda in record time (he had Bastet's blessing to enter the nation).

A funeral was held, all the honors possible given to Carter. And at the end of the ceremony, they got his body to Cairo, to entomb him beside his beloved match.

"It's alright…" Silbhé whispered embracing her sister tightly. "Think that's he's happy now, back with his match. He went in peace, because he knew you'd be alright, that you'll never be alone."

"No, I won't, and neither will you, sister." Kendra replied softly, emphasizing the last word.

"Sister." Silbhé agreed wholeheartedly.

"You need to follow your match too." Kendra added, almost as an afterthought.

"I can't..." The hazel-eyed young woman began.

"I know your negativity is about more than not wanting to deal with the Allfather's prejudices." The dark-eyed mother cut her off. "You don't want to cause Loki trouble, or make things harder on Thor and Jane than they already are. But what you seem to be forgetting, sister mine, is that your deserve your happiness too, and he is your happiness."

"I am happy." It wasn't that she was unhappy, not really, but she still knew that wasn't the complete truth either, much as she might wish it were.

"You'll be happier when you're husband and wife again." Kendra insisted.

And she was right, of course she was. And while it'd be easy enough to just pronounce the Ancient Vows and declare themselves married… Silbhé knew that wasn't the way to go. It's not what her dad would have wanted for her, or Uncle Carter; and it didn't feel right to cheat their family and friends of a wedding, so they'd do things right.

Even then, she waited until they retired for the evening to their private quarters in the palace in Wakanda (she'd been offered a house for them, but as she didn't spend that much time in Wakanda as it was, and when she did she and Kendra would rather keep close, they'd decided it was better to keep things simple; also the private quarters were quite beautiful and luxurious, they needed nothing more).

Loki stepped out of the bathroom in sleeping pants and nothing more, with hair still somewhat damp, to find his beloved in her off-white nightgown, on their balcony, singing her heart out:

"You're my hero

You didn't have to say a word

Your love was the message that I heard

Inspiring me to be all I can be

You're my hero

And 'cause you're my Dad...

I'm twice as blessed and lucky to be me"

That obviously had been the end of the song, and Loki didn't have to think too hard to know why she'd chosen to sing it that very moment. He wound his arms around his love's waist, pulling her to rest against his chest.

"He loved you as much as you loved him." He told her quietly.

"I know." She nodded. "Uncle Carter… he might not have been my father, but I know he loved me as one." She exhaled. "I was lucky, you know? I had in my life two men who, despite how insane my life got, still loved me, completely, unconditionally. Like only a father can love." She willed him to understand that she wasn't making his love for hers any less, they were different kinds of love. "And I loved them just as much."

"I understand." He agreed, kissing the top of her head tenderly.

"You know, that song I was just singing… it's not new." She admitted. "I wrote it years ago, shortly before dad died. I never got to sing it for him. I just… I didn't sing back then. The first time I sung was five years after, and for a whole other reason." She shook her head, that wasn't the point. "Today… it was the first time I dared sing that song..."

"I'm sure that, wherever he might be, he's heard you. They both have."

"Yeah…"

They stayed silent for a while, long minutes. And then when she broke the silence, it was to say the last thing he expected to hear from her.

"I'm ready." She announced. "To go to Asgard, to face your father."

"You… Nightingale…?" He had no words to respond to that.

Asking her if she was sure sounded like an insult, and yet for a year she'd refused to even think of going to Asgard; so the change of tune was surprising.

"I want to do things right." She did her best to explain. "I want to be with you, not just as your lover, but as your match, your consort."

"You know we can do that." He murmured. "The Vows…"

"It wouldn't be right. While I do still want us to pronounce the Ancient Vows, it wouldn't be right to not include your family, our families, in this. If my dad were still here, I'd want him to walk me down the aisle, to kiss my head and put my hand in yours… maybe T'Challa will do that now. But my point is, my dads cannot be here, but your dad is. And I know he doesn't like mortals, and who knows? He might even have his reasons. But the thing is, marriage is an important thing, and our families deserve to be a part of it."

It was funny because, neither of them ever asked the other to marry them. There was no need. They loved each other so completely… marriage was the obvious next step, even if they'd never actually considered when it would happen. Until now.

"Tomorrow then." Loki decided.

Why delay the inevitable? They'd go to Asgard, where he'd present his beloved to the Allfather, announce her as his match, have him claim it was impossible, and then it'd be up to them to prove how possible it was. It might even end up being fun! He wondered about the chances of his mom, and perhaps even his father, ever regaining their memories. It'd make things so much easier… and yeah, Thor was willing enough to believe things even without the memories, but he was like that. So willing to take things on faith alone. The Allfather was nothing like that. Still, they'd try; with his Nightingale by his side he'd be willing to do anything.

"Sing for me my Nightingale…" He whispered his request straight into her ear.

Silbhé settled more comfortably against his bare chest, taking his hands in hers even as he held her. She didn't even think about what to sing, the words came to her as natural as breathing, as natural as her love for him, and his for hers. It was to be expected, they were a match after all…

"You were insecure but I was so sure

But I wanted you

Yes I'm powerful, and a little girl

But I wanted you

So I told you so, wanted you to know

We've just one life to live"

"And I told you all my dreams and fears

And you looked at me and your eyes filled with tears

And you said those three words I'd been waiting for

You became a part of me, yeah"

"You're mine, for life

And I'll be by your side

We are entwined

You're mine, for life,

Hold me until we die,

I'm yours and you are mine"

"I'm yours (I'm yours, I'm yours)

You're mine (You're mine, you're mine)

I'm yours (I'm yours, I'm yours)

You're mine (You're mine, you're mine)"

Loki got it, of course he did. The way his beloved used that song to say all the sings she hadn't dared say in conversation. How she knew his feelings, how she didn't consider him weak; they understood how neither of them had tried that hard to reach the other before finally coming face to face in Smallville, even after having been so close, first in London and then in Sokovia. How it wasn't shame, or embarrassment or even fear that had kept her from moving their relationship forward. It was just… for her the next step was so obvious, so inevitable, she'd been in no hurry; no hurry to possibly get into a fight with the Allfather, to have everyone in Asgard, Midgard, and possibly even Alfheim intrude on a relationship that was supposed to be just theirs (and of course they would intrude, because that's what people did; but they would deal with it because it was worth it). They loved each other, always had, always would, and nothing would ever matter more.

"Now I'm so happy you found a place for me

Boy you wanted me

Some security and two heartbeats

Boy you wanted me

Then you told me so, wanted me to know

You let the past go"

"And I told you all my dreams and fears

And you looked at me and your eyes filled with tears

And you said those three words I'd been waiting for

You became a part of me, yeah"

"You're mine, for life

And I'll be by your side

We are entwined

You're mine, for life,

Hold me until we die,

I'm yours and you are mine"

"I'm yours (I'm yours, I'm yours)

You're mine (You're mine, you're mine)

I'm yours (I'm yours, I'm yours)

You're mine (You're mine, you're mine)"

"I'm yours, you're mine,

I'm yours, you're mine"

 **xXx**

In their own private quarters, Kendra smiled. She'd just put Dakini to sleep, humming the same old Irish lullaby she'd first learned from Silbhé, one of the few memories she had from her mom. Singing wasn't her thing, but at least she could hum, and play both the sweet flute and the harp. She was still smiling when she slipped from the nursery into the bedroom, where her husband awaited her by the bed.

"You seem happy…" He commented with a smile of his own.

"Can you hear it?" She asked in turn.

"Your sister singing?" He didn't actually wait for an answer, it was obvious enough. "Yes, I can. It's a beautiful song."

"Yes, it is." Kendra buried herself in his embrace for a moment before adding, quietly: "She's leaving tomorrow."

"Did she tell you that?" T'Challa certainly wasn't expecting that.

"No, but I know." Kendra murmured. "It's what she's always wanted, she just didn't dare to."

"What's changed?"

"I'm not sure. It might be that she didn't want dad to feel like she was abandoning him, or me, or both of us; maybe she just wanted to feel more secure in her relationship with Loki before she threw herself into it. Maybe it just hadn't been the right time before." She chuckled to herself. "Who knows why my sister does the things she does?"

"Will she be alright?"

"She'll be just fine. More than that even."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because she'll be with her match. And that automatically means that whatever might happen, she'll be beyond fine." She placed a kiss on his pulse-point. "Just like I am with you."

Then, just because she could, she placed a tiny little bite on the same spot. That was enough, a moment later Kendra was shrieking, just for a fraction of a second though, before her husband stole her breath completely in a kiss that made her forget completely about her sister, and Loki, and departures, and really, anything that wasn't her and T'Challa… it was, indeed, perfect.

The next morning there would be a family breakfast and then Loki and Silbhé would be leaving for Asgard. It wasn't a goodbye, not permanently, family would always be family, and perhaps it was time to make theirs a little bigger…

* * *

I know the whole they-just-don't-meet-each-other was beginning to seem like a comedy of errors, but I just wanted to do so much before they actually met each other... also, once I got into my head the idea of the battle in Sokovia, I needed to write it. Especially the scenes involving Kendra, I wanted to do something with her that I didn't get to do in the original timeline, thought she deserved it.

Hathor is the ancient Egyptian goddess of joy, music, feminine love and motherhood; also considered sometimes goddess of dance, foreign lands and fertility. She's had many names, and been considered patron of many things. She's also connected to Horus (as partner, consort, protector, etc). Among her many titles she's known as both a daughter of the sky and protector of king (kings); hence the name of the fic.

Nkozasana is 'princess' in Xhosa which, according to what I've read, is the language Wakandan is based on so... yeah. It seemed like an appropriate code-name for Shuri.

Now, next AU will be coming in 3 weeks, it'll be a One-Shot, a bit more dramatic than I usually go for... but I'm so proud of it, I hope you'll like it. So, just be patient and wait to see how: _Love Never Dies_...


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